Well, I’m in Big Bend for 40 days and it’s amazing that a quarter of my time here has already passed. As the time flew by, it’s evident that I have been having a great time.
The last few days have been filled with black-capped Virios, interviews, hikes, talks on the back porch, brilliant sunsets, innumerable stars, and countless Lonestars. Don’t know what else a person could ask for! But as it pertains to my research, there are a few things of interest so far.
First off, cell phone service and wifi in the park are as infrequent as oases are in the desert. Which is a fitting analogy given that I’m literally in a desert. It has been fascinating to watch everyone congregate outside of the visitor center at Panther Junction as well as the Chisos Lodge in order to hop on their phones or laptops.
Second, I had not originally planned on interviewing / hanging out with as many researchers or park staff as I have, but man has it proven to be amazing. Not only that, but it will provide an incredible contrast to the information I gather from visitors here.
Lastly, the Memorial day rush hit Big Bend and it was quite the sight. It’s amazing how the park, given its isolation and vast size, is not prepared from an infrastructural perspective as well as a management one to accommodate such a rush of visitors. There was such limited parking in the Chisos Basin that they had to implement a one-in, one-out for the cars lined up to drive the basin road. This example as well as many others I’ve garnered while here all feed back into one of the underlying paradoxes of the wilderness ethic and national parks: how to successfully allow as many people to experience a place without loving it to death.
In other news: the Elf owls at the ranch house have continued to elude me, but I finally saw a bear up in the Chisos. I also have found salvation in the cold, crisp, and carbonated nectar of the gods: Topo Chico. I can’t believe I have been missing out.