Papa Baer and Mama Baer came to see Ranger Baer! It was a very special visit. This one felt more heart touch (iykyk) than others, I think because I wasn’t able to be home for the holidays, having them come to me meant so much. We had 4 full wonderful days together with two travel buffer days on either end.

Their first full day, I had to work so I sent them on their own adventure, they stopped by to say hey to me at the visitor center and then went on their own exploration day! I planned our trip to do a mix of things I was saving for when they came to see me, as well as some of my favorite hikes and places. Day 2 is where the real adventures began, we began New Years Day by accompanying my colleague & friend Ranger Christy on a “First Day” off-trail hike to Tinaja Swirl. Off trail travel is allowed anywhere in the park, so it was neat to check out historic trash, evidence of wildlife and native people from centuries of habitation.

In the afternoon, I took them into the Chisos mountains, and we hiked one of my personal favorite trails, the Basin Loop trail with sweeping mountain views and a glimpse of the window into the desert ecology.

We ended the day by going out for dinner and getting pizza in Terlingua, the former ghost town about 40 minutes from my house. We explored the cemetery, ate good food and just caught up.

Day 3 was an international travel day. There’s a border crossing in the park into Boquillas Mexico, an authentic small Mexican village filled with friendly people, wonderful food and cute trinkets. We crossed the river on the shortest boat ride of our life at about 40 seconds and then walked about a 1/2 mile into town. We watched the Vaqueros (Mexican ranchers) guide the mules to their posts on our stroll. Once we arrived in town we shopped for trinkets and had lunch. We shared some yummy cheese enchiladas and tacos, my mom got a way too strong margarita, and my dad and me had Mexican cokes. And I found an adorable kitty I befriended. It was such a fun and unique morning!

In the afternoon, we drove on one of the primitive dirt roads in the park (a little bit to my mother’s dismay) and hiked easily one of my favorite trails I’ve done here, Pine Canyon. It is the closest to the mountainous feel you can get here, and it takes you out to a neat pouroff at the end. Because the trail is hard to access, you only encounter a few visitors and have the majority of the hike to yourself.

Day 4 was our final full day; we hiked another classic the Upper Burro Mesa Pouroff. My folks particularly enjoyed this one because it was different than hikes, we typically do. It consisted of more scrambling over baby pouroffs and took us out to a final view looking over the major pouroff. Afterwards, we drove down to the Lower Burro Mesa pouroff and my mom and I walked out to get a different perspective while dad napped in the car.

That night we went out to the Chisos Basin restaurant for dinner and got some fancy drinks and enjoyed the sunset through the Window. It was an emotional goodbye, but a great visit overall.

January 7, 2025, was a special day. If you’ve been following my journey for a while, you may remember my major injury and surgery I had last winter when I had a spiral fracture to my fibula and tore a tendon. That injury occurred on January 7, 2024. So, on January 7, 2025, I went on a solo hike and just reflected on what the year has brought me. Here it is:

On the weekend of Jan 8-9, I drove out to Amistad NRA, about a 3-hour drive and met Michael there. We celebrated two years of love in Amistad and Del Rio on a rainy weekend but had the best time. We went on nature walks in the park, went bowling and watched trashy TV together. It was the most “us” weekend we could’ve had, simple, quality time and fun.

Work is great. It’s fun, consistent and being at a medium sized park continues to open new opportunities for me to grow. I am continuing to build on my astronomy knowledge, I am working towards giving a full astronomy program (30 minutes) completely solo, developing a full moon hike and leading guided evening walks at the historic ranches. Big Bend is truly a hidden gem in Texas, if you ever have the opportunity to visit, I would highly recommend. Until then, Ranger On!