My husband and I often help chaperone the Big Bend trip that Ecology students take in the spring at our high school, so we are quite familiar with the area around the National Park. We love it. This year, we went in the spring as usual, in November during the thanksgiving break, and again, during the Christmas break. Each time we go, the park seems just a little different.
For Christmas, we rented a house north of Terlingua, the LTM Ranch. Although it does take a good hour and a half to get to Alpine, the nearest real town, and the same amount of time to get down into the park itself, the house was a stunning and comfortable place to get away.
The view from the back porch and living room looks out over many different mesas and mountains. Each day we were there, the weather was so different that I started taking panoramas each morning.
We arrived just before dusk the first night and sat on the porch watching the sunset. As we snacked in the 60 degree dusk the wind kicked up like nothing I have heard and quickly sent us scurrying inside for the evening.
The next morning we awoke to snow. Snow. In the desert. Amazing.
The day after it was cloudy and still very cold, but the snow had started to melt.
Further melting happened and the weather gave way to high 50s and low 60s for two lovely days of hiking in the park.
We even went down and sat in the hot springs. The evenings were still quite chilly.
The next few days it seemed to lapse back into gray skies.
It misted a bit.
The last day on our way it out rained.
Driving home was an experience itself as we drove out of the mud, into the chilly air, through snow covered areas, back into warmer sunny spots, again into chilly areas and finally back to the crisp weather at home.
I loved this trip. Seeing so many sides of the weather from the comfort of a couch and blanket was fascinating.
I would happily visit LTM again, and can't wait for the next time I visit Big Bend.
