Big Bend National Park is a large, remote pocket of West Texas, tucked into a big bend of the Rio Grande River, nearly surrounded by Mexico on three sides. It contains mountains, desert and steep canyons cut by what generally appears now to be a wide but shallow river. Wildflowers may be found there in the spring: cacti and shrubs, large and tiny. When the rains have been just enough and at just the right times, the spring display can be glorious. March 2001 was such a glorious spring and we were there.
