Big Bend Vistas: A Geological Exploration of the Big Bend

Book Description

Big Bend Vistas takes you along the highways and park roads of the Big Bend, describing and explaining the geology and landscapes as you go. The book is divided into three sections, around Marathon, down by the Rio Grande, and north from Study Butte to Fort Stockton. Each section begins with a brief history of the geology of the area and then describes the scenery along the roads.

The book includes 75 color photographs and 120 maps and drawings.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent desciption of the geology of the Big Bend........2006-08-27

Finally a book that is an easy read and answers questions about the area of Texas known as the Big Bend. This book takes you several steps beyond the Roadside Geology of Texas book. The book has excellent maps, is well organized, and has many photographs to help you get your orientation. I also recommend a companion book that he has written about the Davis Mountains area.

The perfect excuse for a road trip.......2004-01-17

I love this book! In Chapter I, Setting the Scene, MacLeod provides a concise geologic history, explaining difficult concepts in language easily accessible to the layman. The following chapters interpret the landscapes along various local routes. The maps, photos and sketches nicely complement the text. I like to read the appropriate chapter the night before a road trip and then take the book along in the car. It certainly adds interest to the trip.

A must-have book if you plan to visit the Big Bend.......2004-01-05

Use Big Bend Vistas to get an overview of the region or just to look up that mountain that catches your eye. Easy to read descriptions of the geology with lots of pictures, illustrations and a glossary to help the average person understand and appreciate the landscape yet detailed enough for the more geologically astute. Vistas makes the trip to Big Bend National Park more fun!

The Big Bend: A History of the Last Texas Frontier

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A solid, authoritative history of Big Bend
The essential Big Bend reference

The Big Bend: A History of the Last Texas Frontier
Ronnie C. Tyler
Manufacturer: Texas A&M University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0890967067

Customer Reviews:

A solid, authoritative history of Big Bend .......2004-12-27

The Big Bend region of Texas is one of the most remote and least populated areas of the United States. From the center of Big Bend National Park at The Basin it is more than 100 miles by road to the nearest Supermarket in Alpine.

The author has compiled an authoritative history of the sparsely-populated Big Bend. The prose is scholarly rather than poetic, but the story is fascinating. Included in the book are maps, old photographs, a listing and description of historic sites, a thorough bibliography, extensive notes, and an index.

The Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca and his colleagues probably passed through the Big Bend in the 1530s; and the Spanish conquest began in 1580. Later the tide was turned as the Apaches and Comanches in the 18th and 19th century depopulated the Big Bend with their constant raids on Mexican settlements. In the 19th century the "gringos" arrived at the Big Bend and established ranches, mines, and wax factories -- the wax coming from the candelilla plant. One of the most interesting sections of the book concerns the conflict between Mexican revolutionaries and bandits and the U.S army in the early part of the 20th century during the era of Pancho Villa. The book concludes with the creation of Big Bend National Park in 1955.

The Big Bend is a tough country with a colorful history and this book is worth reading, especially if you plan to visit Big Bend National Park.

Smallchief

The essential Big Bend reference.......1998-12-09

Ron Tyler's seminal work on the Big Bend of Texas is required reading for anyone who plans a trip to the "Texas Outback". This enchanting out-of-the-way part of Texas has invited explorers and adventurers for years and Tyler's historical treatment brings all the mystery and drama of the region to the surface for the modern traveler. The maps and historical photographs blend with the text to give the reader a "sense of place" that separates the Big Bend area from other southwestern landscapes. A must read for anyone interested in the remote lands of North America.

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Adventures in the Big Bend
Jim Glendinning
Manufacturer: Iron Mountain Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Hiking Big Bend National Park, 2nd (Regional Hiking Series)

ASIN: 097450484X
Release Date: 2006-12-15

Product Description

A completely updated and even more comprehensive guide to the beautiful Big Bend region of Texas. Included in this edition are six different national and state parks, eight adventures for the energetic visitor, and detailed mile-by-mile directions for five driving routes, including backcountry roads. Lodgings, restaurants, and events in fourteen different communities are also included. Learn how to book a luxury resort in the desert or a rustic cabin in the Davis Mountains, where to view world famous art or listen to cowboy poetry, dance under the stars, eat barbeque, raft the Rio Grande or hike to 7,835 feet ? the variety is enormous. Jim Glendinning has been in the travel/touring business most of his life. He has lived in the Big Bend for over ten years and leads tours of small groups on adventures in the Big Bend region and into northern Mexico. Lots of illustrations and maps.

Adventures in the Big Bend: A Travel Guide

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Trip saving adventures

Adventures in the Big Bend: A Travel Guide
Jim Glendinning
Manufacturer: Iron Mountain Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0974504807

Book Description

In this revised edition of ADVENTURES IN THE BIG BEND, Jim Glendinning offers a completely updated and even more comprehensive review of the beautiful Big Bend region. Described in this edition are six different national and state parks, eight adventures for the energetic visitor, and detailed mile-by-mile directions for five driving routes, including backcountry roads. Lodgings, restaurants, and events in fourteen different communities are also included.

Learn how to book a luxury resort in the desert or a rustic cabin in the Davis Mountains, where to view world famous art or listen to cowboy poetry, dance under the stars, eat barbecue, raft the Rio Grande, or hike to 7,835 feet - the variety is enormous.

Still a mystery to many, remote and wonderful as always, Big Bend is ready to reveal its secrets to the reader of ADVENTURES IN THE BIG BEND.

Customer Reviews:

Trip saving adventures.......2006-03-21

Me and a buddy just got back from the big bend region which we visited over spring break. Our main goal was to hike in the national park, and after browsing this book ahead of time, we also were able to plan a day trip into Mexico. When some of our park plans fell through, we used this book to contact different outfitters. When more of our plans fell through, we simply used this book to look up what else we could do in a particular town, it saved our trip! Just be sure to call ahead for pricing updates with the contact info provided. And if you're going to Mexico, just park in Presidio and walk 2 miles as apposed to paying the $16/person round trip cab fair. Bring your passport, and don't forget about the 1:30pm siesta.

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let the images speak for themselves
Big Bend Pictures

Big Bend Pictures
James Evans
Manufacturer: University of Texas Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0292720963

Book Description

"Resisting the temptation of melon-hued sunsets, Evans works with documentary-style black-and-white photography. The landscapes he captures are not simply blasé, wide-angle homages to the hallowed frontier: they reveal Big Bend's quirks and bemused attitudes, suggesting the hitherto blasphemous—namely, that the American West can have a sense of humor, and at times be downright weird. Above all, Evans is exposing beauty from its proper angles. To see Big Bend through his eyes is to gaze upon an altogether alien world, and in so doing, to feel our innocence reawaken."

—Robert Draper

It takes a long time to get to know the Big Bend. Just to look at all the mountains and canyons and desert horizons can take weeks of driving and hiking. And to get acquainted with the independent, self-contained, slightly quirky people who call this place home ...well, that can take a lifetime. James Evans understands that. Recalling his decision to make the Big Bend his artistic muse and photographic subject, he says, "I moved here in 1988 to dedicate my life to the Big Bend and its people. I don't shoot pictures and leave and make a book. This work is a slow accumulation of years of being here. The mountains are familiar friends and the people my heroes. I am one of them."

In this book, James Evans records the landscapes and the people of the Big Bend in all their beauty, harshness, and character. Images such as "South Rim with Agave," "Eyes of the Chisos," and "The Road to Candelaria" capture the distances, openness, and rough loveliness that draw people to this remote part of the Texas-Mexico border. Evans's photographs of people—legendary ranchwoman Hallie Stillwell, Kickapoo girls at a ceremonial dance, national park superintendent Ross Maxwell, school boys in Boquillas, Mexico, to mention only a few—show a deeply felt, but anti-sentimental understanding of his Big Bend neighbors. Other images, such as "Snake and Jesus," "Drug Blimp," and "Rope-O-Matic" reveal the whimsical, offbeat sensibility that sets Evans apart from others who have photographed the Big Bend.

Also included are equally distinctive "Notes and Stories," in which Evans talks about how he came to photograph each particular person and each place and what they mean to him. Robert Draper's foreword pinpoints why Evans's work has such irresistible appeal. In his words, "The photographs of James Evans celebrate the unburnished beauty of Big Bend country as a way of celebrating the free spirit. I see no way out of voicing the cliché: this is a deeply life-affirming collection."

Customer Reviews:

let the images speak for themselves.......2003-07-30

The review by Mr. Fowler pretty much sums up the book. For me there isn't anyone who can capture images of Big Bend quite like James Evans. I have long been a fan of his work and have waited for this book for many years. For those who have never been to the Big Bend region this book offers a chance to be introduced to what makes it so special. It isn't just the landscapes, it is the people. Big Bend Pictures communicates to me what makes west Texas so special. To stare into these pictures allows me to travel back to the region and experience again the heat, the dry air, the clouds(good lord the clouds, just look at how he captures the clouds) and the people. Gaze into the eyes of his subjects and know what it means to live life. Big Bend is like no other place on earth and James' photographs are like no others.

Big Bend Pictures.......2003-05-06

The Big Bend area of West Texas is both seductive and elusive to visitors. The immense scale, loneliness and beauty of the desert scenery can immediately charm any visitor to this remote borderland, and many books have succeeded in extolling these virtues. However, the human denizens of the Big Bend can be quirky lot, with a big dose of individuality an apparent requirement for remaining in these parts for very long.
In this new large-format book, James Evans has succeeded admirably in capturing for the viewer the essence of the human dimension of this vast land. Yes there are panoramas and thunderstorms on these pages, but it's the direct and intimate portraits of the people that will capture your attention. Elderly ranchers (and ranch women), young children, Anglos, Hispanics, funerals, dances, homes, animals - all powerful and direct visual statements. Many of these scenes aren't pretty. There's grit and violence, poverty, sadness; but it's all real. Evans has spent the past 15 years living in the Big Bend (he has a studio and gallery in tiny Marathon, TX), taking time to really know his subjects, gaining their trust, opening a window of truth before his lens. As a regular visitor to these parts, I feel Evans has finally captured the real essence of this amazing region for all of us Big Bend lovers to enjoy.
There are 102 duotone photographs, most are full or double page. A real bonus is James' comments about each photograph in the rear appendix. It is there we come to understand a little more about each of his subjects, and ultimately a bit about Evans as well. And good value, too; lots of book here for the quite reasonable price. And I like the horned lizard endpapers.

Land of the Desert Sun: Texas' Big Bend Country (Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series, No.28)

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A comprehensive introduction to the Big Bend Country of TX
A book on the scale of its subject
Amazing black and white photographs of Big Bend, Texas.

Land of the Desert Sun: Texas' Big Bend Country (Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment Series, No.28)
Gentry D. Steele , and D. Gentry Steele
Manufacturer: Texas A&M University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Big Bend National Park

ASIN: 0890968357

Customer Reviews:

A comprehensive introduction to the Big Bend Country of TX.......1999-03-18

Gentry Steele conveys the essence of the remarkable northern extension of the Great Chihuahuan Desert in his well-written text and supliments it admirably with supurb large format photographs. An excellent introduction to one of America's least explored regions.

A book on the scale of its subject.......1998-10-30

The Big Bend is a rugged, powerful, unforgiving, and beautiful country,that exists on a scale that most of civilized man never experiences. Most casual tourists who visit Big Bend are disappointed, as I was, in their pitiful efforts at capturing the essence of the experience both in words and 35mm photographs. This is a land that does not exist in standard format; it is truly a large-format landscape that requires exceptional verbal ability and skillful large-format photography to do it justice. Gentry Steele has done just that. His love and knowledge of the Big Bend country are clearly evident in his text and, especially in his striking black and white photographs. A hearty thumbs up for this spectacular book!

Amazing black and white photographs of Big Bend, Texas........1998-10-03

This is the kind of book you return to again and again. Steele has both consumate technical skill and the eye (and heart) of an artist. The composition of each photograph is striking, but it is the play of light and shadow -- across canyon walls, over abandoned adobe buildings, and the occasional plant -- that will delight and amaze the viewer. Steele used the intense desert light as his accomplice, creating art out of light, shade, rocks, and space. Each photograph is accompanied by a brief description of what you are seeing and where the photograph was taken. Steele's love and respect for the Big Bend region is evident on every page. This isn't the kind of book to be flipped through casually. I find myself lingering over each page, savoring the image, returning over and over to particular images, seeing some new each time. I plan to give this book to friends and relatives for Christmas this year. I confess to owning two D. Gentry Steele photographic prints, including the one chosen for the cover of this book. Highly recommended!!

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The Big Bend is Big
Excellent addition to a Texas hiker/backpacker's library

Hiking Big Bend National Park
Laurence Parent
Manufacturer: Falcon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1560442867

Book Description

The scenic wonders of the undeveloped Chihuahuan Desert beckon hikers with seemingly endless miles of trails in Big Bend National Park. The park is the largest tract of public land in Texas, with more than 1,200 square miles sprawled across West Texas along the Rio Grande. Hiking trails wander through deep canyons to spring-fed oases and to the tops of the forested Chisos Mountains. Written with assistance from Big Bend National Park staff, Hiking Big Bend National Park is the only comprehensive hiking guide to the many trials in this unique national park and will guide you to little-known places as well as the popular areas. Three trails in nearby Big Bend Ranch State Park also are featured. This guide includes safety descriptions, elevation charts, black-and-white photos, and up-to-date maps and reference information. Hiking Big Bend National Park is an invaluable resource for planning your next hiking trip in Texas's Big Bend Country.

Customer Reviews:

The Big Bend is Big .......2004-12-26

Big Bend National Park boasts one of the finest hikes in the world: the 12.6 mile loop from the Basin to the South Rim and back again. At the South Rim, elevation 7,300, the views of the Chihuahua desert go on forever with hardly a sign that the species Homo Sapiens exists. At this elevation in the Chisos mountains the vegetation is more reminiscent of the Rocky Mountains than of the desert. There is a thrill too in the signs forbidding children from hiking because of the danger from mountain lions.

This book describes 44 hikes from .2 to 19 miles long in Big Bend National Park and three in neighboring Big Bend Ranch State Park. The two parks are remote and immense, totalling together more than 1,500 square miles. The description of each hike includes a map, directions about how to get to the trail head, elevations, difficulty, and hiking traffic, which is light to non existent for most trails. This is lonely country away from a very few public facilities. Water is not available on most hikes in this desert area.

This is a well-written and illustrated trail guide book which is well worth your investment if you plan to visit and hike Big Bend.

Smallchief

Excellent addition to a Texas hiker/backpacker's library.......2001-12-02

Laurence Parent is a talented and prolific Texas nature photographer whose hiking and camping guides are a staple both on my bookshelf and in my backpack.

In Hiking Big Bend, Parent's keen eye is turned towards one of Texas' largest and most rugged parks, ensuring even the smallest of details, if worthy of note, is shared with readers. A borrowed copy of Hiking Big Bend came with me on a week-long camping trip to the park in October 2001, and upon my return home I purchased my own copy. Though lacking photos, the text serves dual roles as a trail by trail hiking guide and written "memory book", chock full of details about the parks history, geology, wildlife and natural phenomena.

Customer Reviews:

A good guide, needs some updating.......2003-12-02

This is one of the few travel guides available for West Texas. It covers in detail Big Bend, Big Bend State Park, Alpine, Balmorea, Marfa, EL Paso and many other fine locations in West Texas. A must have for traveling anywhere south of Midland and West of San Antonio. Some of the accommodations and Restaurant choices need updating, a few addresses are just plain wrong and some area codes are outdated, but all in all this book is a help. Of interest the author does a good job recommending El Paisano hotel in Marfa, which is one of he great gems of accommodation in the region.

City Slicker's Best Friend.......2002-09-09

If and when you get the chance to escape to the wilds of West Texas, be sure to take Eric along. If things don't work out, take his book. It's almost as informative as he is. Better yet, you can put him down (which is something I can't do).

Don't leave home without it.......1998-12-27

I didn't think there was anyplace in Texas worth stopping at until I visited the Big Bend. How this guy ever knew about John Madden's favorite restaurant in West Texas is one of the many things I liked about this book and give it a top recommendation. More on Mexico border towns would appeal to me (but that's not Texas, is it).

Don't Travel West of Ft Worth Without This Guide.......1998-12-08

From Dryden to Pyote, and even down to Cuidad Acuna, Eric O'Keefe has covered "God's Country" as only a person who has spent a major portion of their life in the region can.

O'Keefe moved from Houston to Alpine, Texas during his formative high school years, and the detailed descriptions of this beautiful part of the Lone Star State reflect that intimate knowledge of the small towns, and hole-in-the-wall cafes that give West Texas it's special character.

O'keefe has since abandoned West Texas for the more chic atmosphere of Santa Fe, but don't hold that against him. He still knows where to buy beer in Sheffield.

Book Description

Big Bend

This compact handbook, which is a part of the official National Park Handbook series is divided into 3 sections. Part 1 provides a brief introduction and history of Big Bend Big Bend National Park, including such major attractions a the Rio Grande River, the Chihuahuan Desert, and the Chisos Mountains; part 2 concentrates on the area's natural beauty and history; and part 3 presents an authoritative travel guide and reference materials.

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Well Written Slice of Texas History

Chronicles of the Big Bend: A Photographic Memoir of Life on the Border
W. D. Smithers
Manufacturer: Texas State Historical Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0876111754

Customer Reviews:

Well Written Slice of Texas History.......2001-10-02

Although the author was 104 years old when this book was published, he wrote a very interesting personal history of his years (1916-1944) on the border in the Big Bend area. Both a soldier and a professional photographer during that period, Smithers punctuates his tale with many excellent black and white photographs that suggest a feel and mood of a place and time long past. His old memories are perfectly clear and amazingly detailed. If you love Texas or Texas History, you should definitely read this book.

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