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The Big Bend of Texas, a place of geological confusion.
A maze of washes and draws and mountains and ridges and hills and swales and low points and canyons. A crescendo of building pressure,...


Secrets, Big Bend Nat'l Park
Everybody out here is escaping something, I said. Or running toward something, she replied. I am reminded of a poem from three years...


Rice Cemetery, Big Bend National Park, Tx
Death has been on my mind lately. This land is full of it, marked, unmarked. Animals, humans, plants. A land that once thrived – or as...


Ward Spring, Big Bend Nat'l Park, TX
I followed a bear this morning, along a lush desert trail, past prickly pear in bloom, down a gravel wash with over-reaching roots, into...


Ernst Ridge Trail, Big Bend Nat'l Park, Tx
In the morning, trying to catch the springs in solitude, I am the only one on this rocky, caliche road and as such can move freely –...


Mouse Canyon, Big Bend Nat'l Park, Tx
Weather in Big Bend is a work of art. The light-play on velvet, mountains stretched across a powder blue sky, only a thin rake of clouds...


In the Black of the Night
Black Gap WMA, TX I set out to erase a memory last weekend - it’s not the first time – repeating a trip taken before, rinsing to remove...


Riding the Border: Lajitas Trails in Big Bend, Texas
From Horsehead Crossing on the Pecos River, the Comanche Trail runs south to Fort Stockton / Comanche Springs and there, if you veer...


Horsehead Crossing, Pecos River, TX - Oct '24
Sometimes you must ride through the bones of the past to see the pure sparkling brilliance of the future. It seems such a simple thing,...


Book excerpt: Lake Arrowhead State Park, Texas - Dec 2020
I dreamt of a coyote last night - trotting along beside me. As oblivious to my presence as I am enamored with hers. A big, scruffy,...


Oh Mesa de Anguila, you slippery, slidey thing you
I swing the saddle up, lean into the horse and gaze toward Mesa de Anguila - one of the least visited areas of Big Bend National Park -...


This ride's for you
Big Bend National Park, Texas The first thing that changed was my hands. Short but clean nails are now dirty and ragged. Rings no longer...


Lake Amistad, Texas
We drive through the valles and arroyos of west Texas, the flatlands and mesas, the ridges and mountains climbing tall into clear blue...


The river is not in a hurry today.Â
Pedernales River State Park | Texas A dappling of light and dark gives an illusion of softness to the hard limestone bed underneath.  ...


Christmas Mountains & The Bad Rabbit of Terlingua Ranch
(as published in the Winter 2024 Cenizo Journal) This is the country they call life. A place where you can be yourself - unencumbered by...


El Capitan, Guadalupe Mountains Nat'l Park
Sometimes I drive until I find myself anew. Casing the southwest as if the dirt will scrub me clean. To the desert and mountains of New...


Book Excerpt: Shaffer Bend Recreation Area – LCRA Park, Marble Falls, TX
We follow the dusty, white caliche toward water downshifting along the way, driving slowly through the bends and curves of the road. The...


Ode to Terlingua
I didn’t always love myself, you see? It’s not enough to simply show up. It takes purpose to shed the paradigms that others place upon...


Lost and Found in Monahans
(as published in the Fall 2023 Cenizo Journal) This is a story of a horse and the girl who loves him. I lie back on the picnic bench and...
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