After three months at the Chisos Basin Campground, it is time to say goodbye to Big Bend National Park. The park surprised us every day and every hike with breathtaking views, rock formations as if from a giants playground, nightly skies that display the beauty of the universe. Having the privilege of being here for three months is a blessing. We will miss you Big Bend NP and the Chisos Mountains, and we will always be an ambassador for you wherever we are. Auf Wiedersehen!

Another privilege we had was to meet so many people from all walks of life. Guests come to Chisos Basin because "the mountains are calling". They are looking for hikes they have never done before, views which were described to them by fellow hikers who were here before, time to relax and to adjust, and even to get married. Being a volunteer allowed us also to create wonderful relationships with many campers, park staff and the law enforcement rangers. We will miss you all! Auf Widersehen!

Our journey continues and we are looking forward to our next volunteer experience in the Ozarks. We will let you know about new hikes, new friends and new windows into nature.

At a recent hike to Pine Canyon together with dear friends we all recognized what a gifted sculptor nature is.
Like clouds, many of the sculptures are quite abstract and allow the viewer different interpretations. While one might see chess figures another hiker sees a church choir.
Nature helps us to kindle our imagination, and the power of imagination makes us infinite (John Muir).

We just recently spent some time in Terlingua and visited the local cemetery. It made me think that all those graves are connected to a life story. Those are stories of love, success, serving our country, hard work, pain, fun, failures, and turn arounds. But regardless of rich or poor in life, the "richest person in the cemetery is the one who left the most memories" (Matshona Dhliwayo).

We recently had the pleasure to join friends on a hike to the Balanced Rock, one of the signature rocks of Big Bend National Park. The views of the balanced rocks were breathtaking and stand for the balanced life we are blessed to live as full time RV nomads. I recall a quote from John Wooden, that is a perfect fit for how we feel: "Next to love, balance is the most important thing."

After regaining my pleasure with photography, I am enjoying to see our world in Black and White. Jeniffer Price puts it this way: "What I love about Black & White photographs is that they are more like reading the book than seeing the movie."
Black and White emphasizes the structure and allows the viewer different perspectives. Elliot Erwitt, a well known street photographer, says: "Color is descriptive, Black and White is interpretive."
This series of images was taken recently at the Closed Canyon in the Big Bend Ranch State Park.

I don't like the word hiking. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not 'hike'! Do you know the origin of the word saunter? It's a beautiful word. Away back in the middle ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where the were going they would reply, 'A la sainte terre', 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as the sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them (John Muir).

We recently enjoyed to saunter through the South and East Rim Trail and we were taken away by the breathtaking views.