Not just another Friday

My diary from May 2005....

I did not sleep properly the previous night. There were a lot of things going in my mind which did not allow me to rest and hence fall asleep. I had the digital photography class the previous evening at North Lake College and all I could think was photography. My frustration for not able to photograph for the last 3 to 4 months was on the verge of madness. The class just added more fuel to the fire.

Though it was a workday, I was in no mood to go to work. I still pulled myself out of bed and got ready. When I started to drive to work, I decided, the first thing I will do is check out if there were any cheap flights anywhere out of dallas. I just wanted to get out of dallas. I thought a change of place would get my creative juices flowing and help me make some photos. After looking on the web for an hour, I thought why not drive somewhere. But driving in Dallas for the most part is simply not fun. You have limited choices to the different places you can visit. There is a old saying, "You might drive for 10 hours and still be in Texas". My patience was almost running out when I thought, how about Big Bend National Park. I had never researched about Big Bend so the curiosity led me to find out more. It was about 550 miles southwest from Dallas. Should I fly or drive down there? I had never driven alone for that kind of distance before and that made my adrenaline rush going.

I downloaded couple of maps about the park and driving directions to Big Bend. I decided, I will go home pack my bag and start as soon as possible. I formatted by compact flash cards, cleaned all my lenses and packed my tripod along with my laptop. I forgot to mention one important point, Priya was in Bangalore during all this. I left home by 3:30 p.m. and started driving. Most of the drive is on I-20 around 350 miles. After driving for around 70 miles, I was out of cityscape and was passing through wilderness. The sunset was happening right in front of my eyes and at times it was difficult to drive due to the glaring light hitting my eyes. I took a rest stop after 3 hours at a gas station. Since it was getting dark soon, I decided that I would spend the night in Midland which is around 200 miles north east of Big Bend. I reached Midland at 8:30 p.m. and immediately started looking for a decent motel to spend the night. After going through half a dozen, I finally got one. I was exhausted and was very hungry. Had to freshen up and get some dinner. Since it was small town, most shops closed early. I finally found Dennys which was open 24 hours. I made a few calls to Ajoo and Piyu before retiring for the day.

The next day, I left the motel early so I could reach Big Bend soon. For the most part the drive was very interesting, not because I saw a lot of things but because I did not see anything. Mostly it was a vast open land absolutely empty. Occasionally some cattle grazing on the field but for the most part vast openness. One thing I did notice quite often was Oil drilling pipes. The strange thing was I had never seen anything like this anywhere in Texas. It seemed all of sudden all of the mines were put in this part of the land. They were beautifully spread across as if each one of them belonged to an unseen family. Unseen because there was not a single person around these things. I rarely even came across any street or shop. That was another peculiar thing, I had to make sure that I had at least half my gas tank because at times I used to drive for more than an hour without seeing any gas station.

I reached the park H.Q. just after noon and inquired about where I could stay. They told me that there was only one lodging place further inside the park and the chance of getting any accommodation without prior reservation was very less. The only other option was to stay 60 miles outside the park. I immediately called the lodge and was pleasantly surprised to find myself an accommodation for the night. Everything was going great. I just had to check-in the lodge and get on my photography expedition. After finishing up my lunch at the lodge cafeteria, I decided to drive within the park. It was a beautiful day and everything about it was perfect. There are very few days like this in Texas. Mostly it is either very hot, cold or extremely windy, but not today. The entire park screamed of Spring season by the omnipresent blue Bonnets which were beautifully lined up on either side of the unpaved roads within the park.

Big Bend National Park is very different than most National Parks. It feels bigger and wide open than most because it is devoid of big huge trees and green foliages. Cactus rules the landscape all over the park. There are gigantic rocks and boulders all over. At times the shapes of some of the rocks remind you of different Indian Gods in their various positions. The air is pure and the only thing you can hear is your own breath. It has a desert like look and feel to it. It feels spiritual! It has beautiful canyons, I visited the Santa Elena Canyon during sunset time. The sight was simply breathtaking.

Sunset at the Santa Elena Canyon

I reached the Santa Elena Canyon and just saw one other car. The Rio Grande river in front of the Canyon was dry, which made walking towards the canyon fairly straight forward. The walk towards the Canyon looked deceptive due to the enormous size of the canyon. All excited I took my tripod and camera bag and ran towards the canyon. The ideal setting was to take the sunset happening just behind the canyon. I setup my tripod and started shooting. There was so much to shoot and very little time. While looking through the lens, I saw some movement on the canyon. After careful observation, I saw three people descending the right side of the canyon. They looked like ants walking on a hill. After taking sunset shots, I walked towards the canyon, by then those three people were walking towards me. They recommended me to go on top of the canyon and look at the beauty from up above. I took their word with excitement and hurried towards the foot hills which was still a good 500 meters.

After sometime, I just happened to to turn back and see that, the entire place was without a single soul except myself. By then the light was fading rapidly. I thought to myself, if I do not climb it now I don't know when I will return back to this beauty. But I could hear another voice in my brain pleading to me not to go alone. I was scarred and confused. I thought to myself, what if I meet with an accident during my climb, how would anyone come to know about it. How would I call anyone for rescue. There was no cell phone service and nobody in sight. I decided to head back to my car. I consoled myself saying I would take beautiful pictures around the various canyons. The light was perfect to make some really good photographs. The only problem was, I had to do it fast before the light got lost into darkness. The next 30 minutes was well spent in making some good pictures. By then I had lost all the light and it was pitch dark. It was so dark that I could not see my own hand. It was scary! I could hear all kinds of insects buzzing around me. I started to drive back towards the lodge as I was getting scarred of the darkness.

It is very ironic considering that we urban city dwellers sometimes get tired of all the commotion around us. We want to be all alone by ourselves on a deserted lonely island. Now that I was all alone, I was scarred of the very same thing, I wished. I think we are too urbanized for the natural habitat. The nature around us has changed dramatically. We build artificial things to surround us and call that home. We have got used to them that we cannot live without them. Just being a part of nature all by ourselves scares us. This was the first time I realized it, I guess you have to experience it first hand.

The drive was quite excruciating. It was pitch dark all around my car, the only light was the one coming from my car headlights. The stars in the sky were still not out and the mountains which were not visible felt like soul of the desert. The drive felt unending, I drove for more than 40 minutes and I still did not see the lodge. There were times when I felt I was driving the wrong way but that was not possible as it was the only road in and out of the lodge. I kept my calm and after about 45 min reached the lodge. Seeing people around me I felt some sort of joy and relief I cannot describe. I rushed to my room and tucked myself in the bed. Part of me was very sad to know that I am not adventures.

Next day morning I started driving back home. This time I drove all the way with just a few breaks along the way. It was definitely an experience I will never forget. Since then, I have more respect for life and nature around me. I do not take anything for granted.