As our editor-in-chief Brian D. Sweany explained in his editor’s letter, this month marks the fifth time Big Bend’s impressive vistas have graced our cover. So while it might appear to some as though we’re, ahem, treading the same territory, given the majesty of one of our state’s most remote areas—and the fact that it sadly remains one of the National Parks System’s least visited parks—it seems appropriate to return to this land that we love and trumpet its astounding beauty.
Or, for some, it was a good reason to visit the park in the first place. That’s exactly what Ryan Kuehl, a producer with Bourke Productions, did. He—along with Chris Bourke, the company’s cinematographer and editor, and director Ryan Farmer—made the trek from Austin to far West Texas to shoot a short film capturing the area’s seemingingly infintite sights and attractions. “The three of us had been talking about either shooting a short film or taking a camping trip, and Big Bend gave us the excuse to do both,” Kuehl said. The resulting product is a stunning two-minute journey through Big Bend that shows just how vast the 800,000-acre park is.
As everyone is when they encounter the area, they were blown away by its beauty. “Santa Elena Canyon certainly had a lasting affect on us,” Kuehl said. “The canyon wall, which prominently juts out to form the Mexico border, is a humbling reminder of the powerful and patient forces that sculpted the landscape.”
Below, their video, which paints a more vivid picture than these words ever could:
