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Visiting Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas has everything you might want in a national park –- isolated mountains for hiking and camping, a scenic and wild river for kayaking, canoeing, and rafting, dark skies for stargazing and a species-rich desert for birdwatching and exploring.  But because the park is located hundreds of miles from a major airport and one hundred miles from the nearest interstate highway, it is perhaps one of the country’s least visited of the big national parks. 

In this week’s podcast, the Traveler’s Lynn Riddick begins a two-part series about her recent trip to Big Bend -- a vast wilderness in the Chihuahuan Desert along the Rio Grande. Lynn meets up with the park’s chief of interpretation, Tom Vandenberg, who offers an overview of the park’s varied geology and diverse ecology, its human history and what the future may hold for visitors seeking adventure and solitude in the park’s 800,000 acres.

 

02 National Parks Traveler introduction
:12 Episode Introduction with Kurt Repanshek
:45 Vista Verde - Tim Heintz - The Sounds of Peaks, Plateaus and Canyons
1:18 Wild Tribute
1:38 Potrero Group
2:05 Washington’s National Park Fund
2:40 Nova Scotia Tourism
3:12 The Traveler's Lynn Riddick gets a primer on Big Bend National Park from Chief of Interpretation Tom Vandenberg
32:21 Amaranth - Bill Mize - The Sounds of the Great Smoky Mountains
32:32 Yosemite Conservancy
32:53 Grand Teton National Park Foundation
33:21 Friends of Acadia
33:46 Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation
34:07 Interior Federal Credit Union
34:47 Lynn continues her discussion with Tom Vandenberg
1:04:20 Kenai Fjords - Various Artists - The Spirit of Alaska
1:04:56 Episode Closing
1:05:27 Orange Tree Productions
1:05:58 Splitbeard Productions
1:06:10 National Parks Traveler footer

Comments

What are the best hiking trails for viewing Texas Madrones?


Lost Mine Trail would be your easiest hike, as long as you can find a parking place at the trailhead. Otherwise, head toward the South Rim on the Pinnacles or Laguna Meadows Trail. Trailhead is at the end of the road in the Basin.

In other words, leave the desert floor for a hike in the Chisos Mountains!

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sonoradick/33023311756/in/album-7215768006...


Thank you for the tips.  I'm curious how much the Texas Madrones on the South Rim were affected by last spring's fire.  


Great interview and learned so much about Big Bend National Park.  Highly recommend this podcast episode if you plan to visit any time soon.

Thank you


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