Fremont said, "Do you know, it seems to have just the opposite effect on me. The stars make me feel...well- part of it all, at one with it...stronger and bigger than life. Odd, isn't it?"
I must've read this passage over and over again at least a dozen times.
We (Brian, Pops, and Chris) got back from our long weekend in Big Bend last night.
While planning this trip, I was looking forward to the nighttime skies just as much as I was looking at the different landscapes. It proved to be a problem worth having - with absolutely no ambient light, there were too many stars to look at. Stars that are impossible to see from my backyard flickered brightly over my sleeping bag.
I'm more apt to post a few pictures to tell the story of our camping/hiking trip. To say that I had fun and it is a beautiful place doesn't begin to describe it. Even pictures do injustice.
A lesson re-learned, however: the most cherished moments are the ones unplanned and unexpected.
Two examples: After camping in the desert Thursday night, Chris and I woke up early the next morning to walk down to the creek we heard the night before. Only expecting to walk a few hundred yards down to the creek, we kept walking and came across two javelina, a cemetery, and a few rustic brick houses that have since given way to the elements; the walk ended up one of several miles and provided amazing pictures.
That afternoon, we explored outside the park through Study Butte and outside Lajitas; we stopped to refuel our cars and our bodies. Walking out of the store, I noticed a stack of paperbacks and one entitled Dream West caught my eye. The first words I saw were "John Charles Fremont" and "Based on a True Story". I had to have it as Fremont is in my list of Top 3 favorite U.S. historical figures. I didn't see a price list so I asked the lady behind the counter of a price; she assured me that people leave books there all the time and are free of charge. Even after offering five dollars for the book, she would not accept my money.
The entry passage to this record came from Dream West.
The rest of the trip can probably be summated by the following: a 3-side Thanksgiving dinner mixed and eaten out of the same tin cup, ten layers of dirt over your entire body, sore calve muscles, steep mountain trails, and a Fandango pilgrimage to the DOM rock and Chata Ortegas.
Maybe more stories will emerge. Enjoy the pictures in the meanwhile.
