Heading toward the Chisos

This last February as the brief winter turned toward spring, I had the opportunity to head west to the Big Bend Country.  I packed up and made the 570 mile trip to the end of the road with plans on spending a week photographing in the park.

Big Bend has always been one of my favorite parks.  It is a landscape photographers dream destination with incredible views, amazing geology, differing terrain, and elevation changes from low desert to high sky island.  

Then there is the river. The Rio Grande makes the southern boundary of both the park and the United States.  It is lonely place you will not happen upon-you have to want to get here to the end of the road.

I left Fort Worth in the afternoon and drove part of the way to the park, getting an early start the next day with hopes of reaching the park for sunrise and some good light.  I was near the north entrance of the park in the predawn light but the sunrise was non existent with weak and hazy light.

I photographed the mountains and desert near Persimmon Gap and then started into the park as the sun started to rise rapidly into the sky.  The bad morning light actually became a little better in the brightness of mid-morning as it burned through some of the haze.

As I drove I started to see some possibilities to not only make images but also to use my large format camera.  See that on my LARGE FORMAT BLOG

The route into the park runs south toward the Chisos and I made the drive with many stops for images, finally reaching the Chisos about 11am which was just perfect to visit the lodge and have a plate of enchiladas.  

See a few images here from my morning drive through the desert and finally into the cooler greener Chisos Mountains.

I am always amazed at the park and that morning drive was no exception.  The vastness, the desert, the big empty quality it has.  I was here for a week and I was ready for the light and sun to paint this desert landscape.