September 8, 2023
Chris talks with Big Bend Ranch State Park Interpreter Layla Spurlock about what’s new in the biggest state park in Texas! In addition to some highlights of visiting the Park, learn about three upcoming events (in October, November and December 2023) that will be celebrating the 100 Year anniversary of Texas’s State Parks program.
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Transcript for “Big Bend Ranch State Park in 2023”:
Intro
Welcome to the heart of the Big Bend. It’s time to kick back, put your feet up, grab your favorite beverage or snack as we discussed, declare, proclaim, publicize and articulate about the wonders, magic, beauty, music and happenings here in the area known as the Big Bend of Texas.
Chris Ruggia
Hello, welcome, and thank you for joining us again for Heart of the Big Bend. This is a podcast and radio show coming to you every other week about visiting the beautiful Big Bend of Texas. Specifically, we will cover what’s happening in Alpine, an incredibly friendly small town nestled in a desert mountain valley at the heart of the Big Bend region. With easy day trips from Alpine, you can take in everything this amazing region has to offer.
I’m Chris Ruggia, director of tourism for the City of Alpine. And today we’re talking about Big Bend Ranch State Park with Layla Spurlock, who’s the chief interpreter.
Layla Spurlock
I’m the park interpreter, there’s two of us.
Chris R
Layla just told me her title, like seconds ago, and then I thought I would, you know, mangle it.
Layla S
It’s OK. Thanks for having me, Chris.
Chris R
Yeah, thanks for coming all this way. Up to the KVLF studio.
Layla S
Out here in West TX, it’s pretty normal driving far to go anywhere else, especially where I live. So I’m Layla Spurlock. As Chris said, I’m the park interpreter.
Chris R
I’m gonna call you the chief one that’s there, though.
Layla S
OK, that’s fine. My coworker, I’m sure they’ll be fine with that. Yeah, and so. Well, first of all, park interpreter. All the time people ask me like do you speak 20 languages interpreter?
No, no, no, no. My job is to connect our visitors with the cultural and natural resources of our park.So we do this through programming, so all these fun like star parties, guided hikes, me and my coworker Star who is the park interpreter at our other visitor center – we lead guided programs. We also do community outreach events. And then I also run our social media page, so it’s a wear many different hats.
Chris R
So you’re at the Warnock Center then? And she’s at Fort Leaton?
Layla S
Yes.
Chris R
OK, great.
Layla S
They’re at Fort Leaton.
Chris R
Yeah, and so if any, if those terms are unfamiliar with anyone, I want to send everybody to our podcast feed at Heart of the Big Bend and look back. It was – gosh, a couple years ago now. We talked to Layla’s predecessor, Amber Harrison, about a lot of details about visiting Big Bend Ranch State Park. So you can compare and contrast our conversation today with with what Amber had to say back then.
So how long have you been in this position at the park?
Layla S
Just over a year. I started in July 2022, so it’s still fairly I’ve got one year under my belt and many more to go. But before that, I was not a park Ranger. So this is my my first job working for parks.
Chris R
All right. And so was it everything you expected? Is there anything new and different that that you didn’t expect to happen.
Layla S
Oh, this is the this is the best job in the world. I always say that I get to live my dream. I grew up going to national parks, state parks.I have a very large family and we would go to all these parks. And I grew up doing the Junior Ranger program, and it’s first there that inspired me to like, whoa, you could have a career in the outdoors. Like, this is an actual job. People are Park Rangers. So I love getting to meet all kinds of different people.We have visitors come to our part from across the world and it’s fun getting to see them have a really great time in the park. Yeah, it’s a it’s a very different environment. I grew up on the Gulf Coast plain, so the climate it’s been the hardest adjustment for sure.
Chris R
Yeah, yeah. Well, what’s your favorite thing about the physical park itself?
Layla S
My favorite part? Well, I think our park has beautiful scenic views. You are getting the both the Cios Mountains, you can see the Chisos Mountains in the National Park taking the drive along River Rd FM 170. National Geographic considers that one of the most scenic drives in the country.
Chris R
No question.
Layla S
And then, of course, I’m a big star nerd, so I love our night skies. What’s many people might not know if you live in an urban area, over 80% of people – they can’t see the Milky Way. So getting to come out to Big Ben Ranch State Park it’s a unique opportunity.
You get to see stars, constellations, planets you don’t usually get to see.
Chris R
And when people are thinking, they’re looking at that thermometer and they’re thinking why would I go to a place that’s hot? Because that, well, now we often talk about the Big Bend region. Our temperature is kind of a factor of elevation in a lot of ways. And so when you’re up in the mountains, it it can be, of course it’s Texas, it can get warm, but it’s generally cooler than by the river and most of Big Bend Ranch State Park is pretty much at the river. You’ve got some elevation gain in the Solitario area, but it’s it’s pretty warm for the area, but don’t forget, half of the time the sun is not up. And so it’s not that hot when you’re looking up at the beautiful stars.
Layla S
Yeah and also, I mean only what is it, three months out of the year, really hot summer?
Chris R
Very true.
Layla S
October through April temperatures, my favorite month to visit the park is November. It’s nice and cool you’re in the seventies- sixties, but you’re also not. Sometimes we do get snow out here in the Big Bend region and it’s most likely not going to snow during November.
Chris R
Yeah, winter hikes in the desert are –
Layla S
Magical.
Chris R
Yeah, really, really great.
Layla S
Yes. We have one of my favorite hikes in the park is going to be off of Puerto Chillicothe and that’s the Fresno West run. It’s gonna offer you really great views of a unique geological feature, the Solitario and you can see the Flatirons there. So that’s always beautiful. It’s gonna be on the east side, so the sunrise is really nice in the mornings.
Chris R
Right, so. One big thing that’s happening right now, this is the 100th year of the State Park program and so there’s a celebration across the state at all the different parks and that’s certainly true for Big Bend Ranch as well. So what are you, what are you guys doing for this hundredth year?
Layla S
Yeah, of course. So we have three exciting events coming up soon here in the fall at the park. So as you said, it’s 100 years of Texas State Parks, so we’re having a big birthday celebration. Our first event is going to be in October, that’s going to be the 20th through the 22nd and that’s called Find Your Trail. And what we really hope to accomplish at that event is to get new people out in the park and get them comfortable in the park. You know, we want to showcase the wide variety of recreation opportunities that you can have in a Texas State park. So here at Big Bend Ranch State Park, you know we have mountain biking, so our park archaeologist and a geologist from Sul Ross are going to lead an Archaeology Geology mountain bike tour.
Chris R
I think a lot of the same guess which geologist just that is, but we’ll leave it at that.
Layla S
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dr. Kevin Manzig for sure. Then we’re going to have a star party with the National Park Service. So our partners at the Big Bend National Park going to come over and lead a star party with me.
Then we’re gonna have some pictographs tours. We’re gonna have on Friday night a panel where you can come meet your Park Rangers and kind of ask them your burning questions, which you’ve always wanted to ask a Park Ranger and we’re gonna roast some s’mores. So it’s gonna be just awide variety.
And then, of course, we’re gonna have a wildlife biologist come out and talk about bear safety up here in the Big Bend region.
Chris R
Are you seeing black bears in Big Bend Ranch?
Layla S
We do see them every now and then. We the most recent sighting was a couple months ago. It was swimming in one of the pilas, which if you don’t know what a pila is, that’s a large water tank. So he was swimming around in there. But we are even in Terlingua, they’re seeing more bears, for sure. So we want to make sure we’re being proactive and spreading the message on how you can be bear safe and take care of bears.
Chris R
And so all that’s for the the October birthday party.
Layla S
Yeah, the October birthday party. Find your Trail. It’s gonna be a really fun, action-packed weekend for sure. I’m really excited for it.
Chris R
Excellent. And so what’s after that?
Layla S
So after that in November out at Fort Leaton State historic site we are hosting and giving thanks for a desert haven. A lot of people might not know, but Fort Leaton is an old Adobe trading post at the height in the 1800s, 1840s, it was an old Adobe training post. So we’re going to have some mainly park staff in period costume and kind of have a historical recreation of what life would have been like back in the 1800s at Fort Leaton. So there will be someone doing blacksmithing work that will have someone working in the trading office creating, baking some bread. So it’s just gonna showcase life back then.
Chris R
That is a really nice opportunity because if anybody’s ever walked through Fort Leaton, it’s like these cavernous spaces all deserted, so it’s like this quiet and and almost haunted emptiness, you know, that’ll be filled up with people moving around. That’s pretty great.
Layla S
The Fort has a pretty mysterious past, so we’re also going to have some guided tours of the Fort, so that’s always fun to delve into. You’ll have to come to our event to find out.
Chris R
Cool. OK, so November at Fort Leaton.
Layla S
That’s gonna be November 26th so the weekend after Thanksgiving and then finally to kind of wrap up this hundred year celebration in December, we’re hosting again at Fort Leaton, our annual Posada.
Yeah, which is it’s a unique tradition here on the Borderlands and in Mexican Spanish culture of, you know, recreating the journey of the Virgin Mary and Joseph as they, you know, walked through Bethlehem trying to find a place to stay. We’re going to celebrate that event here at the park. So last year, you know, we’re the forts. It looks so beautiful. They have candles everywhere and we have mariachi playing and there’s going to be lots of food and then there will also be tours. So it’s just a really fun event that we that we offer and that we’re excited to celebrate.
Chris R
OK so every month near that, around the 20s, in the 20s there, yeah, of every month. October, November December.
Layla S
Yeah, we’re going to have events.
Chris R
Yeah, people, people head down to Big Ben Ranch in Fort Leaton.
Layla S
If you want to know the specific dates, of course you can always visit Big Bend Ranch State Park, our official event, our website through Texas Parks and Wildlife, we have all of our fall events, not only these larger events, posted on our calendar there.
Chris R
All right. So that what’s the TPWD website – what’s the URL?
Layla S
I believe I’m trying to remember. You’ve caught me there.
Chris R
It’s texasstateparks.org?
Layla S
It’s tpwd.texas.gov and then you would type in like Big Bend Ranch State Park.
Chris R
OK tpwd.texas.gov search Big Bend Ranch State Park and get all the details.
Layla S
Yeah, of course. We also have, you know, social media. We have Instagram, Facebook. You can just type in Big Bend Ranch State Park on your Facebook. On Instagram, where Big Bend Ranch SP and we always post, you know, updates in the park.On Friday, we’ll be going live with our first news from the Big Bend, so be sure to check that out too.
Chris R
OK. And so tell us about what do you mean going live?
Layla S
Yeah, so we every two weeks kind of like this podcast on Fridays throughout our busy season. We host a, you know, video kind of news from the Big Bend with really myself and Park Ranger Star and we give park updates what the weather’s like, any fun interpretive events we have coming that weekend, what you should know to prepare yourself for a trek.
Chris R
And is that on social media? On the website? Where do I go find it it?
Layla S
Will be on our Facebook page and Instagram page.
Chris R
OK, cool. Yeah, So what time on Friday?
Layla S
It’s 9 AM.
Chris R
9:00 AM Friday. OK, so you get into work. You take that little break and see what’s happening. Put on your headphones.
Yeah, see what’s happening at the Big Bend Ranch. That’s cool. So how often?
Layla S
Every other week, yeah. Yeah, and we can feel free to drop questions in our chat box. We will answer them for you for sure. We love interacting with the public and getting people excited about our park.
Chris R
That is great to know about. I like that program. So anything else that’s new going on to the park? I know you’ve had a lot. During the pandemic we had a lot how much higher visitation, but it seems like that’s kind of increase continued for Big Bend Ranch. You kind of got discovered by a lot of folks.
Layla S
Yeah, we’re a lot of larger magazine publications are printing more about the park. We’ve seen this year in 11% increase here at Big Bend Ranch State Park. So this year, to date, we’ve had about 63,000 people come in. Which, before COVID, you know was pretty unheard of, like that was a you know unheard of number and we’re not even through the end of the year we still have a couple months to go. So the parks definitely getting busier. We’re seeing new user groups come into the park that people have never been out to the park and it’s really fun to help them plan their trip and and and get them excited and you know confident recreating out in the park.
Chris R
Absolutely. I’ll shout out to like what I think is the the easiest, lowest barrier to entry of a great little hiking experience is Closed Canyon because it’s so close to the road, you know, so many, so many hikes you’ll get a payoff of a view or a little Canyon or a a spring or something like that, but that’s often after you’ve, you know walked for an hour and a half or something like that to get to it. But closed Canyon, it’s right there, you’re right in the Canyon. So if you start at the Warnock Center, you’re coming from the Terlingua side of things, then it’s a it’s about 20 miles or something up.
Layla S
Yeah it’s like a 30 minute drive.
Chris R
So you got a little bit of a drive and then you pull off and park and then it’s just right up the rise and you’re in there. But I will say when it’s when the sign says stop. Stop.
Layla S
Please. Please stop!
Chris R
People get stuck down there and it and it takes a lot of time and effort of other people to get you back out so you can slide down. It looks tempting, but it’s it’s pretty enough where you’re standing so just stop when it says stop. But otherwise, it’s just beautiful.
It’s all Canyon.
Layla S
It’s a beautiful canyon, yeah, it’s it’s absolutely magical walking through there. And what’s really cool is it’s always, you know, depending on erosion it it’s constantly changing what it looks like in there, you know, with the water rushing through, which please don’t go in there when there’s water rushing through. But it’s always changing. So it feels like you have a different experience each time you take a walk through Close Canyon.
Chris R
Absolutely. But yeah, as you said, probably the lowest barrier entry is actually just the River Rd. which is part of the park. That’s a stunning, stunning drive.
Layla S
Yeah, that that just driving along River Rd. is really nice.There’s some great scenic overlooks there. There’s also another great hike off of there, which is the Hoodoos Trailhead. So if you’ve been to Bryce Canyon, ours are not quite as large as Bryce Canyon, but they’re a freestanding rock formation. I think they look similar to a mushroom. Everyone has different interpretations, what they look like, but there’s a nice about mile and a half hike. That you can travel along the river and I think it offers one of the best little – if you want to dip your toes in the water and yeah.
Chris R
Because you’re right there along the riverbank.
Layla S
You’re right there along the riverbank, yeah.
Chris R
Because most of the hikes are kind of up away from the river and because the interior, the park on the other side of the road and and I only recently was reading that the Lajita stables, Big Bend stables they’ll guide you on a horseback tour if that’s something that you’d like to experience at the park.
Layla S
Yeah, they’re one of our official outfitters at the park, so they lead horseback riding trips throughout the park.
Chris R
So if you don’t feel like walking the whole way, you can get a get farther back up into the desert mountains.
Layla S
For sure, or you know if you have a four wheel drive vehicle, the roads in the interior for the most part, I mean they’re dirt roads so they’re a little bumpy. Most of them are rated, you know, 2-wheel drive high clearance or two wheel drive. But there are some fun roads back there if you’re comfortable driving 4 wheel drive that you get really nice views.
Chris R
Yes and if you’re looking at a park map on the website, just stop at Barton Warnock Center, stop at Fort Leaton, and just ask and say, this is my car – come out and look at it, this is my car. Where can I drive? What’s, what’s, what’s my best bet? And they will absolutely tell you so you can have a good time.
Layla S
For sure. Park Rangers, you know, we live in the park. We love the park. We want you to have a great time in the park. We want you to have a great time in nature and have a wonderful experience. So we’re there to help you. You just come in the visitor center, give our visitor center a call and we can help with whatever you need planning your trip or, you know, if you have a question or unsure, like that’s what we’re there for, that’s that’s our job. For sure.
Chris R
Speaking of how helpful Park Rangers are, I was just remembering my my wife and I were on a hike off that West Fresno trailhead and we got back home to Alpine and realized that her wallet had fallen out of her backpack on the trail that we hit there was like a zipper that went all the way down and we were like “oh no,” we were all stressed about it until we played the messages on our answering machine that when we were leaving the park, the Park Ranger was calling us because somebody had picked up her wallet and it was already there. But anyway, so Park Rangers, I’m telling you.
Layla S
Pretty cool people for sure. For sure. But it’s a it’s a really fun, great job in a absolutely beautiful park.
Chris R
So anything else that that jumps into your mind that we should share with people before we sign off?
Layla S
Let me see, well we do have a just a couple you know updates if you are visiting the park. We are seeing obviously a large increase in visitation, so you want to make sure a lot of people you know will call especially October through April is what we consider our busy season. So a lot of people call like the day before they’re trying to come out looking for a campsite and that’s that’s so much harder to do now. Our sites are booking out months in advance. So just, you know, be sure to, you know, plan ahead and prepare.
Chris R
Yeah, and that’s definitely something that that we advise is that if be sure you know where you’re sleeping before, certainly before you head South of Alpine, but ideally before you even get into the area. Alpine does usually have inventory of hotel rooms. You can usually find a place to stay in Alpine, but if you’re headed down to south county, make a reservation before you start driving,
Layla S
Yeah. We’ve also, we have new trailer length restrictions in the park. So everywhere, every campground except for La Cuesta, it’s going to be an 18 foot maximum for your RV camper trailer. Then at La Cuesta, it’s going to be a 30 foot maximum. And that’s just, you know, the desert is really fragile and we want to help protect the plants. So through research, we’ve learned that slowly – we call it campsite creek – where the campsite is taking over more and more of the desert. So we just want to protect, you know, the beautiful cacti, all the, you know, native grasses we have here in the park. So that’s that’s why we do have those, those restrictions. It’s to protect our resources. For the longest time, there were no composting toilets along River Rd, but now just about every campsite and trailhead has a composting toilet, which I think is a huge advantage in the park.
Chris R
No kidding.
Layla S
It’s so nice. And then of course at the Fort, if you’re visiting us this fall, we’ll be doing, they’re doing a lot of our maintenance staff there is awesome and they’re doing a lot of Adobe restoration.
Chris R
That’s pretty cool. So you can see what’s what’s going on, see how it’s done.
Layla S
They’ll are actively doing Adobe restoration. They’re trying out different recipes, so you’ll get to actively see the Fort being repaired and restored during your visit.
Chris R
Cool. All right. Well, Layla, thanks so much for for talking to us. Be sure to come back when there’s something new and exciting at Big Bend Ranch. I’m sure we can come up with other things to talk about.
Layla S
Oh, of course there’s a million things to talk about the Big Bend. And thank you for having me.
Chris R
Oh, it’s my pleasure. And thank all of you for joining us every other week for Heart of the Big Bend.You can get more information about the show at visit alpinetx.com/podcast or search for Heart of the Big Bend on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and most other podcast apps. And for everyone listening to the local broadcast on KALP/KVLF radio in Alpine.Thank you so much and we’ll be back with you in two Fridays.
Outro
You’ve been listening to the heart of the Big Bend. Hope you liked what you heard and that you’ll find the time to experience all that the Big Ben has to offer. See you soon, partner.