Exploring the Big Bend Country

Great stories culled from his newspaper columns written over many years. A good tool for photographers of Big Bend National Park, Texas. And a good read.

Photographer Peter Koch came to the Big Bend country of Texas in 1944 and stayed there until his death in 1986. His daughter assembled and edited his writings on the Big Bend to compile this book. This is not a guidebook, a trail guide, or a scholarly dissertation. Rather the author recounts his experiences in and around the Big Bend National Park. He tells of building a raft and floating down the Rio Grande, searching out rare plants in the desert, the people he met in his travels, and he tosses in a few tidbits of history about the ranchers, Indians, and Mexicans who lived or still live in this sparsely populated desert. The book is illustrated with the author's black and white photographs and several maps. Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is Chapter Two in which the author describes his arrival at the new national park in 1944 -- which at that time had five employees to manage more than 1,000 square miles of park. With a photographer's keen eye he describes several of the most scenic and popular trails in the park. "Exploring the Big Bend" is a good little book that is easy and pleasant to read to read. The Big Bend is still one of the best and most isolated places in the United States to visit. From the headquarters of the National Park it's about 50 miles to the nearest grocery store. Smallchief