One more photo from the hiking trip to Big Bend. Big Bend is way off the beaten path, and you have to drive a long way through flat, dry scrub before the mountains slowly come in to view and things get interesting. A group of guys from work have been doing a couple hikes each year for quite a while now, but this is the first one I flew to. It was still a 4 hour drive from Midland TX.

The long haul was worth it, we had good hiking with great scenery, and got a good ranger presentation at the campground. He explained the geology of the area, which it turns out is rather dizzyingly complicated. The trip planner ( we each take turns choosing and planning trips) went all out on the food since we were base camping. We all gained weight, and had my first serving of Paula Deens Low country boil. And my second. Check out her website.

I'm not kidding about the food. Ice cream afficianados may know that Blue Bell ice cream from Texas is top drawer stuff, and cheaper than the boutique national brands. Well, the trip planner/cook brought a cooler full of dry ice and Blue Bell ice cream. Even though the weather was cooler than we might have expected, we all tucked in to the ice cream.