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Big Bend National Park

Big Bend National Park, Focus Stacking, Grapevine Hills Trail, Texas Wildflowers

A Desert Marigold

A Desert Marigold photographed along the Grapevine Hills Trail in Big Bend National Park in the spring of 2023.

Big Bend Bluebonnet, Big Bend National Park, Focus Stacking, Texas Wildflowers

Big Bend Bluebonnets

Big Bend Bluebonnets photographed near the Santa Elena Canyon in Big Bend National Park in the spring of 2023.

Big Bend Bluebonnet, Big Bend National Park, Focus Stacking, Grapevine Hills Trail, Texas Wildflowers

Big Bend Bluebonnet Flower

A Big Bend Bluebonnet flower that i photographed along the Grapevine Hills Trail in Big Bend National Park in the spring of 2019.

Big Bend National Park, Chisos Mountain

The Road to The Chisos

The Road to the Chisos Basin is one of the most scenic roads in the Big Bend National Park. Changes in elevation are accompanied by changes in vegetation.

Big Bend National Park, Focus Stacking, Grapevine Hills Trail, Texas Wildflowers

Desert Marigold

A Desert Marigold photographed along the Grapevine Hills Trail in Big Bend National Park. The flower was photographed during the spring of 2019.

Big Bend National Park, Focus Stacking, Sierra Del Chino, Texas Wildflowers

Big Bend Bluebonnet

The Big Bend Bluebonnet is similar than the bluebonnets we have in the Austin area. The Big Bend variety has fewer leaves and grow much taller.

Big Bend National Park, Dorgan House

Dorgan House at Dusk

The Dorgan house at Dusk with Santa Elena Canyon in the background and the Milky Way overhead. Both located within the Big Bend National Park.

Allionia incarnata, Ernst Tinaja, Flowers, Pink Windmills, Trailing Allionia, Trailing Four O'Clock, Trailing Windmills

Trailing Windmills

A pair of Trailing Windmills photographed in the fall of 2018 in the Earnst Tinaja area of Big Bend National Park.

Big Bend National Park, Dorgan House, Dorgan-Sublett Trail, Night Photography, Night Sky

Night Sky Over Dorgan House

A view of the night sky over the Dorgan House in the fall of 2018. The ruins are found along the Dorgan-Sublett Trail in Big Bend NP.

Big Bend National Park, Dorgan House, Dorgan-Sublett Trail, Sunrise, Sunrise Colors

Sunrise at Dorgan House

Sunrise at Dorgan House was very special during my recent trip to Big Bend National Park. The colors provided by the sun and the clouds were spectacular. One of the best I have seen in this area.

Balanced Rock, Big Bend National Park, Panorama, Panoramic, Sunrise, Sunrise Colors

Balanced Rock Panorama

It is time for my spring trip to Big Bend National Park in west Texas. One of the first events was the hike up Grapevine Hills Trail to photograph a Balanced Rock Panorama.

Big Bend National Park, Dorgan House

Dorgan House Sunset

Another Dorgan House Sunset photo from my trip to Big Bend National Park last December. I can only imagine what the Dorgan family’s day was like, especially with their 360-degree views of the wonderful area.

Big Bend National Park, Dorgan House

View of Castellon

I photographed this view of Castellon Mountain at sunset from the Dorgan house which is located at the end of the Dorgan-Sublett Trail in Big Bend National Park.

Big Bend National Park, Dorgan House, Sunrise, Sunset Colors

Dorgan House Sunrise

The Dorgan House along the Dorgan-Sublett Trail in Big Bend National Park taken at sunrise. I posted a few photos of the Dorgan house at sunset but the Dorgan House at Sunrise is special.

Big Bend National Park, Ocotillo Field, Sunset, Sunset Colors

Prickly Pear Sunset

A prickly pear sunrise during my trip to Big Bend NP in the fall of 2017. The skies were filled with clouds which made for a great sunset.

Big Bend National Park

Sunset Sky

Another great sunset sky in Big Bend NP. Photographing into the sun is very tricky and one must find a balance to capture the image details.

Colorful Desert

The Big Bend NP desert floor in the spring of 2015 was one of the most colorful desert floors I have ever seen. I hope to see it once again.

Big Bend National Park, Lost Mine Trail, Sunrise, Sunrise Colors

Lost Mine Sunrise

Sunrise along the Lost Mine Trail in Big Bend National Park. I captured this photo after a 2.4 mile hike up the popular trail.

Big Bend National Park, Glen Springs, Sunrise

Chisos Moonset

I photographed this moonset over the Chisos mountain last December during my fall trip to Big Bend NP. The sunrise light was perfect.

Badlands, Big Bend National Park, Full Moon

Moonset Over Terlingua

I captured this photograph of the moonset over Terlingua during my last trip to Big Bend NP. We hiked up a small hill to this vantage point.

Badlands, Big Bend National Park, Moonrise, Sunset

Badlands of Big Bend

Another sunset photograph of the Badlands of Big Bend NP. This location is now a regular stop during my photography trips to the park.

Big Bend National Park, South Rim, Sunrise

South Rim View

One of the most beautiful views in the entire Big Bend NP has to be the South Rim View. This vantage point showcases the Santa Elena Canyon.

Balanced Rock, Big Bend National Park, Sunrise

Balanced Rock Sunrise

A favorite hike in Big Bend NP is up the Grapevine Hills Trail to Balanced Rock. It was there where I captured another Balanced Rock Sunrise.

Big Bend National Park, South Rim, Sunrise

South Rim Sunrise

The most memorable activity from my last trip to Big Bend NP was the 12-mile hike to the South Rim where I captured this South Rim Sunrise.

Badlands, Big Bend National Park, Moonrise, Sunset

Supermoonrise

One of the best things about seeing a Supermoonrise (a word I made up, by the way) is that it is so spectacular as it clears the horizon.

Big Bend National Park, Castelon Mountain

Moon in Motion

I just returned from my trip to Big Bend. I photographed this moon sequence during my first evening there using my camera’s intervalometer.

Big Bend National Park

Chimneys Trail

Chimneys Trail in Big Bend National Park is a fairly easy hike that leads to a nice geological formation called the Chimneys.

Dry Riverbed

I captured this photograph of the Dry Riverbed along the Santa Elena Canyon last spring during my last visit to Big Bend National Park.

Desert Flora Sunset

I photographed this desert flora sunset during my trip to Big Bend NP last year. The clouds were sparse but the desert flowers were amazing.

Big Bend National Park, Lost Mine Trail

Sunrise on Big Bend

This image taken last December of another sunrise on Big Bend is from the Lost Mine Trail, another one of my favorite hikes in the park.

Big Bend National Park, Milky Way, Old Maverick's Road

Luna’s Milky Way

I captured this photo of Luna’s Milky Way last April during a trip to the Big Bend National Park with some of my photography friends.

Big Bend National Park, Flowers

Prickly Pear Flower

I captured this Prickly Pear flower at the Big Bend NP last spring. I like prickly pear plants because they are easy to spot and they have a lot of flowers.

Big Bend National Park, Esperanza, Flowers, Tecoma stans, Trumpetbush, Trumpetflower, Yellow Bells, Yellow elder, Yellow trumpetbush, Yellow trumpetflower, Yellowbells

Yellow Bells

We stopped alongside one of the park roads during last spring’s trip to Big Bend National Park where I captured this photograph of some Yellow Bells.

Santa Elena

One of our favorite photography locations in the Big Bend National Park is Santa Elena Canyon. We usually photograph the canyon at sunrise and we decided to try a sunset shot as well.

Big Bend National Park, Glenn Springs, Sunrise

Prickly Pear Starburst

It is a tradition during our annual trips to the Big Bend National Park to stop along the Glen Springs Road for a sunrise photo. This year was no exception.

Ladder-backed Woodpecker - BBNP

Disheveled

  • Wildlife
  • 2 min read

I spotted this Ladder-backed Woodpecker earlier this week while relaxing after a long day of photographing the Big Bend National Park.

Big Bend National Park, Chimney's Trail, Starburst, Sunrise

Chimneys

One of the things that I enjoy about my visits to the Big Bend National Park is exploring new locations. One of the new trails we explored was the Chimneys trail.

Big Bend National Park, Flowers

Tree Cholla

I returned from my trip to Big Bend NP with hundreds of photos to process. In the meantime, I’ll share a Tree Cholla flower that we found along Highway 118.

Balanced Rock, Big Bend National Park, Sunrise

Big Bend #1

One of my favorite hikes in the Big Bend NP is the hike up the Grapevine Hills Trail. T’s an easy 2.2-mile hike that leads to the Balanced Rock formation

Big Bend #3

The Rio Grande serves as a border between the US and Mexico. You can access it throughout the park, however, this photograph was taken outside the park.

Big Bend National Park, Ocotillo Field, Sunset

Big Bend #4

We usually stop at the “Ocotillo Fields” near the park entrance to photograph the sunset on our first day at the Park. The official road is Texas Highway 118 and it’s named “Panther Junction Road”.

Best of Big Bend

I’m off to my annual spring trip to Big Bend and I thought I would share my top five landscape photos from my 2015 trips. This one merited an Honorable Mention.

Balanced Rock, Big Bend National Park, Sunrise

Balanced Panorama

This photograph was captured in Big Bend NP at the end of Grapevine Hills Trail, where the Balanced Rock formation resides. I posted a similar photograph titled “Balanced Sunrise” last December.

Boquillas

We had a chance to visit Boquillas Canyon during my trip to Big Bend NP. The Canyon is the easternmost of the 3 main narrows sections along the Rio Grande.

Big Bend National Park, Havard's fiddleleaf, Nama havardii, Sierra Del Chino

Fiddleleaf

The flower below, Havard’s fiddleleaf (Nama havardii) was one of the flowers that was new to my collection and is a rare plant as well.

Big Bend National Park, Lost Mine Trail

Silhouette

I like shooting silhouettes, so, when I was shooting the sunrise at the Lost Mine Trail in BBNP, I decided this was a perfect opportunity for a silhouette.

Acacia constricta, Big Bend National Park, Sierra Del Chino, Vachellia constricta, Vachellia constricts, Whitethorn Acacia

Thorny

This thorny plant was pointed out to me by a friend during our trip to BBNP. We completed our sunrise shoot and turned our attention to flowering plants.

Big Bend National Park, Lost Mine Trail

Juniper

I posted a few images taken at the Lost Mine Trail during my recent trip to BBNP. The image below of Juniper Canyon was taken at sunrise from the same spot.

Big Bend National Park, Lost Mine Trail

Common

Common Ravens are observed throughout the Big Bend area. Of the birds classified as perching birds, the Common Raven is the largest, the size of a hawk.

Balanced Rock, Big Bend National Park, Sunrise

Balanced Sunrise

I titled this one “Balanced Sunrise” because I was trying to make sure I got the rock formation and a good sunrise all at the same time. This is one of my favorite photos from my trip.

Badlands, Big Bend National Park, Sunset

Badlands

During a rip to the Big Bend National Park, I noticed this very interesting area near the park’s western entrance. We labeled it “The Badlands”.

Big Bend National Park, Mule Ears, Sunset

Sotol

The Sotol plant is very prominent throughout the Big Bend NP. It was during a trip to the park that I photographed the now dead and empty stalk.

Big Bend National Park

Spheroidal

The BBNP is an amazing geological wonderland. There are many interesting rock formations impacted by Spheroidal Weathering along the Grapevine Hills Trail.

Big Bend National Park, Flowers, Lost Mine Trail

Gold Cobblestone

I was hiking the Lost Mine Trail in the Big Bend National Park the other day with some friends and I noticed this wonderful Gold Cobblestone Lichen.

On The Border

This image was taken with my tripod in the water and set to about 18-inches off the surface. I guess you could say that I was literally standing on the border.