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Indian Head Road
Conclusion
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Indian Head Road (Hike: 1.5 miles)
Up at pre-dawn, packed, granola bar breakfast, and a flashlight hike down the Indian Head Trail. The trail snaked through a gap in the fence that served as the boundary in to Big Bend National Park. The gap was marked by four cedar post arranged to prevent wildlife from crossing the boundary. Approximately 50 yards in to the hike rested a park sign that mentioned the conservation of American Indian artifacts. This was all very interesting to us particularly since this hike wasn't listed on any park literature that Joey or I had seen on our previous trips to Big Bend. We followed the waitresses directions to the first set of large rocks to our left; however, it was still too early to see any details. Surprisingly, the Chisos Mountains were in plain view from where we were and the clouds were beginning to turn various shades of pink and orange. These were the clouds we had been waiting for. We planted ourselves for the best Big Bend sunrise of the trip. And to think that we were going to head out well before dawn on our way back to Lufkin. But, the best was yet to come. Once the sun came up and the clouds faded of color Joey found a large rock along a wash with several Indian mortars carved in it. We began making our way along the edge of the mountain and slowly began uncovering several rocks with petroglyphs There was evidence of a large tribe located in this area. There were several large rocks that formed a shelter, which had petroglyphs on the ceiling. We used our flashlights to scan the cave and were able to locate several more to photograph using the flashes on our cameras. After about an hour of photography two other photographers came by who had visited the area the day before. They said the petroglyphs continued more than a mile down and around the mountain. They had found out about this place the same way we did except from the Starlight restaurant? We laughed and wondered if there was a local conspiracy for higher tips (lol). There is some graffiti along one of the rocks from three gentlemen from Marfa dated 1902. Evidently, they were some of the first Anglos to discover the Indian drawings. We finally had to concede to the time and head back to the truck. It was tempting to just book another night and spend the rest of the day in this one area, but the trip had to come to an end sometime. Once again, we added another site to our list for next trip.

Conclusion
Reflection I want to conclude with a few thank yous. To my cousin, Joey, for being a great traveling partner. His love for history, landscape, photography, and occasional words of wisdom made the trip everything it could be. Plus he did all the driving! A huge thank you to my lovely wife, June, for allowing me to be "40" and for letting me be a little selfish by taking this trip. The Big Bend experience always renews a sense of freedom, exploration, and self examination. It has become interesting to experience it over the course of a few decades. My first two trips as a college student at the University of Texas. My third trip married and in graduate school at Louisiana State University. And now a father of two young girls who I hope to be able to share the experience with one day soon. They say that no one just happens to go to Big Bend - you have to be going to Big Bend to get there. We hope you have enjoyed this web site and that some of the information has been helpful. Feel free to send questions or comments to: DupreDavisTripReport.

Others websites by Sean Dupre': Yosemite National Park, Grand Canyon National Park.

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Day Eight