Shopping for the Ranch

Visitors to Alpine can rub shoulders with ranch owners and cowboys at the Big Bend Saddlery. Since 1905, the business has provided the Big Bend area with saddles and leathergoods, hats and other necessary items for ranch life.

Connect with Big Bend Saddlery here.

For Alpine's Visitor Center website, click here.

For a list of Alpine attractions on our Texas Mountain Trail website, click here!

An Artist's Home

Visitors from around the world flock to Marfa to see Donald Judd's home, work and Chinati Foundation. (This is a view the tour of Judd's home compound and courtyard.)

If you're a fan of minimalist art, you already know about Chinati..possibly the best place to view the work of Judd, Dan Flavin, John Chamberlain and others.

For information on Marfa, visit here and here.

For information on the Chinati Foundation, click here.

Fall Beauty

The brilliant blossoms of a Red Fairy Duster grace the El Paso Desert Botanical Garden at Keystone Heritage Park.

For a list of all the Mountain Desert Nature Centers in the region, including Keystone, click here!

Ernst Tinaja Trail in Big Bend National Park

A rare shady place along the Ernst Tinaja Trail!

This is one of several backcountry hikes you can take in Big Bend National Park.

The trail is short--just 1.4 miles--but it is difficult to get there. From the entrance of the high clearance 4-wheel drive-only Old Ore Road near Rio Grande Village, the trailhead is a wild five mile drive.

For more info on hiking in the region, visit: www.texasmountaintrail.com/hike

Museum of the Big Bend

If you're looking for a great introduction to the region, your best bet is the Museum of the Big Bend on the campus of Sul Ross State University in Alpine. Video and interactive displays tell visitors about the geology, geography, archaeology, history and culture of this fascinating and beautiful part of Texas!

Rio Grande Leopard Frog

We spotted (no pun intended) this fellow in the spring-fed pool along the Modesta Canyon Trail at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens near Fort Davis.

Rio Grande Leopard Frogs stay at the pool year-round, which looks like a perfectly lovely place to live!

Take Your Dog to the Post Office Day

Most every day, in every community in the region this is a familiar sight outside the post office. This fella is waiting for his owner outside Van Horn's post office.

Visit Van Horn's website, here.

Underneath the Texas Madrone in the fall

The Texas Madrone is one of the most beautiful trees in the Chihuahuan Desert.

Found in protected canyons (these photos came from the Modesta Canyon Trail at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens and the Guadalupe Mountains National Park Devil's Hall Trail) and on mountain slopes at higher elevation, this time of year the trees develop and drop their red berries.

The bark peels off in sheets, revealing lovely tones of white, pink and red underneath, giving the tree the common name of "Ladies Legs."

For information on hiking in the region, visit: www.texasmountaintrail.com/hike

Modesta Canyon Trail

If you're in Fort Davis with a few hours set aside for a great hike, consider the Modesta Canyon Trail at the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens. In the middle of the hike, there's a small spring-fed pool in a shady spot...a great place to rest!

It is a 1.75 mile loop but is rated moderately strenous due to its rocky, uneven footing. Plan to set aside 1.5 to 2 hours for the hike, plus more time to check out the other trails and the great gift shop at the visitor center.

For more information on hiking in the region, visit: www.texasmountaintrail.com/hike

Something old; something new

A new/old sign went up in Van Horn last week, adorning the Trost and Trost-designed Hotel Capitan Building, restoring the skyline to what it was many years ago.

The folks responsible for Fort Davis' Limpia Hotel and Marfa's Hotel Paisano (both on our Historic Hotels list!) have purchased the building long housing Van Horn's bank, and are turning it back into hotel.

Here's a historic look at the sign atop the Hotel Capitan, from an image in the collection of the Clark Hotel Museum in Van Horn and the Portal to Texas History! Click here to see it!

Butterflies in the City

When funding is available, the kind folks at the El Paso Desert Botanical Garden, part of the Keystone Heritage Park in El Paso, raise butterflies in their greenhouse.

Last weekend, they released their fall butterflies, pictured here.

Click here for a list of our regional nature centers.

Birding at the Keystone Wetlands

Surrounded by the City of El Paso, one of the most surprising natural places is the Keystone Wetlands, which along with the Keystone Dam Archaeological Site and the El Paso Desert Botanical Garden, is part of the Keystone Heritage Park.

A list of birding species of the Keystone Heritage Park can be found on our Texas Mountain Trail birding page: www.texasmountaintrail.com/bird.

Other nature centers in the region are listed here.

Open your tent in the morning to watch the sunrise

All over the region, there are great places to camp. This campsite is in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, close to a major trailhead.

For information about camping in the state and national parks in the Texas Mountain Trail region, visit our special camping page:

www.texasmountaintrail.com/camp

Sometimes you're rewarded by heading out the back door

When you visit the Overland Trail Museum in Fort Davis, ask if you can see the tackroom in one of the outbuildings at the back of the property.

The tackroom has a display of saddles and brands used in the area, and on your way there, you've got a great view of Sleeping Lion Mountain!

From the Cactus Greenhouse

The Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens in Fort Davis has lots to offer the visitor: hiking trails, botanical gardens, nature and mining exhibits, a great little bookstore and gift shop, and tucked away high on the property, a cactus greenhouse.

Rain or shine, it is a great place to see the diversity of native cacti.

More about CDRI, here.

Relaxing and Educational Group Travel

There's more than one way to experience Far West Texas...have you ever considered group travel? The Davis Mountains Education Center provides elderhostel and group trips for all ages out of their comfortable Fort Davis facility. (See the hiking sticks just waiting for you?) You can read more about travel opportunities through DMEC here, or check out other group travel options here.

More about El Paso's Dia de los Muertos

Day of the Dead enthusiasts can learn more about the holiday here.

El Paso has many events planned this year, click here and page down to see a list of all the upcoming events in that city!

Overland Trail Museum

The Overland Trail Museum in Fort Davis is in the home of Nick Mersfelder, a native of Bavaria who came to the area in the early 1880s. He was soldier, ranger, barber, justice of the peace, coroner, photographer, Odd Fellow, cattleman, financier, and musician.

A book about his life, which is available at the Museum on Fort Street in Fort Davis, says Mersfelder's life's motives as, "to make money, to help his fellowmen, and to enjoy life as he went along. This room, which is pictured in a old photograph in the book, shows it filled with his musical instruments.

The Overland Trail Museum is a great place to view artifacts of early life in Jeff Davis County, from saddles to clothing and handwork, historical documents and photos.

Dia de los Muertos

Views of altars made by the El Paso community for Day of the Dead celebrations.

Check our Texas Mountain Trail calendar for more event details.

Learn more about it here!

Evening Sun on Sierra Blanca

This is one of the few times we'll show highway signs on this blog, because frankly so many beautiful places in the region are completely untouched by man. We're in the frontier!

But this view of Sierra Blanca is so pretty in the evening light. You can see the view yourself, from the picnic area on eastbound I-10. Besides, you need the rest from the freeway...and an excuse to get off the road and enjoy the pure mountain air.