New Year on the Trail

Happy New Year!

One of my favorite things to do is to go hiking. This year I will celebrate the New Year at Big Bend National Park. I am leaving in about an hour for a 3 day trip to Big Bend.

I have made several trips to Big Bend and have yet to be disappointed. As a child, my family made several trips together to state and national parks all over the state, including Big Bend. One spring break at A&M, two buddies of mine and I spent the break hiking at Big Bend. We had 6 nights and saw many different areas of the park. We spent two nights along the river, two in the mountains, and two in the desert. My favorite trail of that trip (and in the park) was the Marufo Vega trail. The trail goes through the mountains and around one of the canyons. It drops down onto the Rio Grande to a sandy beach. We camped on the beach behind some cane. We had just laid down to sleep when we heard a splash in the river followed by something wading through the river to our camp. We heard an illegal immigrant in the river right under out camp on the other side of the cane. After scrambling around our camp in the dark in our underwear and boots, we finally worked up enough courage to counter the illegal. The illegal immigrant turned out to be a burro who was as scared of us as we were of him. He ran across the river back to Mexico. We don't need any Minute Men! Us Aggies can successfully defend the border! The last trip I made was last spring with a friend of mine. We spent two nights in the park. The first night was on the river and the second night was in the mountains. It was her second back packing trip and she enjoyed it and did well. We also climbed Emory Peak, the highest point in the park. I am not sure what I will do this trip. I will talk with the rangers and see what they recommend. I want to camp on a 4x4 road tonight, but I am not sure which road. Perhaps the Old Ore Road. Tomorrow I am considering hiking the Chimneys Trail. It is a trail I have never hiked and was recommended as a good winter hike in a guide book.

I love hiking. I love being outdoors. Standing on a ridge and looking for miles in all directions and not seeing a single sign of civilization is one of the great feelings of freedom. It is also a very spiritual experience. I stand in awe of God when I am in the middle of His creation. One of the more famous songs for staffers from Philmont is I Don't Mind. One of the lines of the song says "Cause there's no reason to pray When you wake up every day to the sunrise over Cito Peak." I have always disagreed with this line. To me, being in creation gives me even more reason to pray. Being a Christian, I feel called to protect and conserve God's creation because he gave it to us. He made it for us. When I look around at the world today, what a poor poor job we have done of being stewards of his gift.

While I am not sure what I will be doing, one thing is for sure. I will be where I want to be, on the trail under wide open skies.