slow down: a west tx road trip journal

By: Greyson Gilbert

A few days in Big Bend is nowhere near enough time to fully experience its beauty. I could spend eternity there, constantly finding new adventures. Unfortunately, the short time we had for our trip didn’t give us eternity. As spring break 2017 grew nearer and thousands of students were planning to flock to the coast for parties and concerts, my best friend, brother and I decided to plan a trip where we'd live out of our car for a week and experience the beauty of Big Bend National Park. Before hitting Big Bend, we planned to make a couple of stops elsewhere. The first of these stops would be Guadalupe Peak, the tallest point in Texas.

            We woke up at the crack of dawn and began the 7-hour trek from San Antonio to the Guadalupe Mountains. When we got there, we set up camp, chatted with some locals at the trailhead and headed up, looking to knock out the 4 miles to the top before it got too late in the afternoon. About halfway up, we stopped for a moment and I remembered that I didn’t need to be in a hurry. Here, I’m not rushing to make an 8 a.m. class, or rushing to not be late to a meeting, or rushing for anything. When you are in the wild, there’s only one call you need to answer, and at that moment it was to experience this landscape. 

            We summited Guadalupe underneath a mid-afternoon sun and ate a bite on the peak. It was the most incredible view of Texas I had ever seen. The summit we were on top of rose high above the surrounding landscape and offered a 360-degree view of an awe-inspiring West Texas. I read through some of the names in the registrar before writing my own on the first open space. I thought to myself that I don’t know how people can go through life without experiencing this connection between a man and a mountain - where nothing else seems to matter.

After climbing down and spending the night at its base, we woke up to head south - only to discover our car battery had died. Thankfully, a park ranger was there to give us a jump and we navigated to the nearest car shop in Van Horn, Texas. After waiting for a new battery, we headed to Big Bend...the ultimate destination of our adventure. We stopped in Marathon, TX to pick up some food and gas before heading south to check out the Chisos for ourselves. To me, it was the last frontier of Texas and is truly magnificent.

Our goal was to see as much of the park as was possible in only a couple of days. One of the most incredible hikes we did included Ernst Tinaja, which is Spanish for "big earthenware jug." We spent all afternoon hiking through the water worn canyon, awe inspired by the towering layers of rock formation and the numerous natural watering holes. 

Later in the afternoon we went to Boquillas Canyon, where we swam in the Rio Grande river and watched the sunset over the horizon from a canyon overlook. If you’ve never watched a West Texas sunset, you’ve been cheating yourself. As the sun started to dip below the horizon, we found a camp site and made chicken fajita tacos, which seemed to be the only suitable way to end our first day in the southwest.

The next day, after waking up to the cool desert morning air, we hiked Ward Springs Trail, a natural spring. Afterward, we took to the trail to check out the Burro Mesa Pour off, a seasonal water fall that was dry at that time. To get there, you travel along a sandy river bottom, cliffs and wild rock formations that reach skywards on both sides. When we got there, we climbed up the pour-off and ate lunch in a dug-out about 30 feet up.

  

We spent all afternoon of our last day wading the Rio Grande again, but on the other side of the park - Santa Elena Canyon.

The walls that towered stories above either side of the river were unbelievable, but one of the most profound discoveries was actually a family we met hanging out in the cool river. 

We asked them where they were from and were surprised when they told us Canada. With a little boy and a little girl, they were on their own great American road trip. They had come from Canada, through Colorado and New Mexico, and were now spending the week in Big Bend. The father was a photographer, and they were taking a year off to drive all across America, living completely out of their van. Their willingness to get rid of the things they don’t need, pack up everything they do and just LIVE was inspiring. They embodied our idea of just living. They were in a hurry to go nowhere. Taking life one day at a time and being present was the mission. 

This ending to our own road trip served as a perfect reminder that in a world full of chaos, rush, stresses, electronics, and schedules, sometimes it’s so important to slow down, simplify your life, and fully experience your surroundings. I learned to just live every day, wherever you happen to find yourself.

signing off.