National Parks Magazine
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1st July 2014
A Wing and a Prayer
First, get yourself to El Paso, Texas. Then, drive five hours south through sun-beat scrub desert to the boundary of Big Bend National Park, proceed through towering rock spires and into the Chisos Basin, and get a good night’s sleep. In the morning, put on some sunscreen and haul yourself up the rocky switchbacks of the Pinnacles Trail (“Difficulty: Strenuous”) to its junction with the Emory Peak Trail. There, over the sound of your own panting, listen for a particular bird call: a fast-paced,