THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Terlingua, The Ghost Town at Sunset

Copyright 2013, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Our last night in the Big Bend area, we drove back over to Terlingua.  I had things to see and questions to answer.  First question, was this house/ruins built into the hill?  When driving by we were some distance from the structures and I just could not get a good view, so, we stopped along the road, I got out, and walked to where I could get a good view and did the Sony zoom.  Answer, nope, built in front of the hill, but, the color of the adobe blends quite well with the hill.

Next, a stop at the Terlingua Cemetery, with over 400 graves, tradition tells us the oldest one dates to 1903 with many lives lost in 1918 to the influenza epidemic.  The cemetery is represented on Find A Grave.

You might also enjoy visiting Life Before the Ruins, researched and maintained by Bob Wirt, he has more on the cemetery, as well as information, including photos of other cemeteries in the area.  He has done a tremendous amount of research, there are stories and more on his site.  Don't miss his "People" pages, click through, read the family histories, and, yes, there ARE photos AND documents too!

I took quite a few photos during our visit to the cemetery.  All the resting places were emotional and moving, many were simple, worn, fences falling down, wooden crosses were everywhere, evidence of memorials, and the celebration in November of the Day of the Dead.  

Below, one of the gates at the entrance to the cemetery.  The rest of the photos can speak for themselves.

The town of Terlingua has a web page, here.  Besides being known as a ghost town, Terlingua is also known for chili cookoffs.  So, I went snooping around for info on the chili cookoff.  Seems that the hot chili is just a wonderful excuse to drink a bit of cooling adult beverages and then, well, dress up a bit.  Just go look, it is worth the time!  LOL  (Kinda sorry we missed this.)

Below just one of the many buildings now left in ruins, if you listen, you can almost hear the stories the adobe hold.

Our visit in the Big Bend area ended with a spectacular sunset.

What an ending to five days of awe and awesome.  Man had wanted to visit this park for years, he can now mark this off his bucket list, and yes, it lived up to and surpassed his expectations.

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THE Trip, THE Encore' :: Big Bend National Park, Moving Day

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

November 30, 2012

We had determined that a move from Stillwell to Study Butte would be advantageous and helpful for seeing the west side of Big Bend National Park, today was moving day.

We started out trying to find a geo-cache, sighhhh, 'twas a fail.  Our GPS units kept telling us the cache was on the other side of that gate and cattle grate.  The Geocaching web site told us it was not necessary to go onto the private property on the other side of that gate.  We even looked in the palm trees.  Sigh, for the fail.

So, after the fail, we left the interesting Stillwell Store and RV Ranch and headed south into the park and then west to Study Butte.  The haze and distances at times create eerie scenes, reminding me many times of old western movies I have seen,  mountain ranges, almost in silhouette, outlined by light, or lack of light.

Add a few unusual shapes, mysterious, loving the layers:

I am not even sure what to say about this structure, other than it sure is unusual.

An interesting view as we come down in elevation, looking out over the tops, sandy looking, smooth boulders, variance in colors and shades.  Barren, lonely, vast, huge, would not want to be out there wandering around, dangerous, did I say, huge?

Almost looks like a chimney, almost:

We arrived in Study Butte to find a rather vacant but modern campground, very clean.  Study Butte and Terlingua are physically close to each other, but, about as different as can be.  Study Butte is well, alive.  Terlingua is known as a ghost town.  Terlingua is not exactly a ghost town as there has been some rebirth, they are drawing in visitors with the story and mystique of the ghost town.  Terlingua has a great cemetery!  I'll show you soon.

We drove over to Terlingua later in the day as the sun was setting.  Just one of many abandoned homes in Terlingua.

I have no idea.  Looks to be a dragon fly or bee.  Why??  Who knows, but, I do love folk artsy type stuff.

Terlingua in the dusk of the day:

The next day will be back into the park, oh, my, it was quite the day, hiking, flora, space, huge, more, more more.




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