 |
| Time to touch base with stillness at Balmorhea State Park |
It's a bit odd that Balmorhea State Park seems like such a big part of my life since I've only been there four times, and two of those times it was closed. Yet, it feels as familiar as neighborhoods I once called home. Perhaps one reason for this is its size. At 46 acres, it's just over half the size of the 90 acres of family land I call home. When you go to Balmorhea State Park, you can park the car, place the keys someplace safe, and just stay put for days at a time. Yet, there is still enough to keep you occupied. When you're out in nature with nowhere to go, time slows down, and you learn to just be.
I noticed this even happens with young children. You'd think with a swimming pool that covers 1.3 acres, your kids would be so anxious to get over to that pool, you'd see very little of whatever else the park had to offer. However, my children spent more time at the cienega, or desert wetland, right next to the campground than at the pool. Though reconstructed after the pool destroyed the natural habitat when it was built between 1936 and 1946, the wetland reconstruction was done so well that today it appears as timeless as the surrounding desert itself. There is a shaded wood deck that juts out over the swamp where you can spend hours listening to birds and watching snakes, fish and turtles in the water below. There is also a short trail that takes you to a glass wall so that you can see underwater. The wetlands allowed the adults to just sit around at the campsite and talk while our boys spent hours watching snakes.
I think what I enjoy most about Balmorhea State Park is just the natural desert landscape that surrounds the campsites. True, you could plop a campground down anywhere in west Texas and you'd get pretty much the same desert experience. The real question then is why aren't there more places just like it? If preserving a measly 46 acres can bring so much joy to humanity, why not have many more little preserved squares like it? Camping opportunities in west Texas are few and far between, and the two National Parks--Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains--are often filled to capacity. A dozen 46-acre parks spread across that enormous space would relieve the pressure on the parks and would certainly get used.
The grass-lined canals and great expanses of mowed parkland are enjoyable too. There are swings, picnic tables, and even a cute little Spanish-styled adobe lodge whose rooms look over a tree lined canal of sparking water and thriving little fishes called Pecos gambusia. We spent many hours just walking along the ditches watching the silver streaks zip through their cool, clear world, ripples of wavy, golden light playing the pebble and sand bottoms below.
I love the grand, sweeping views of Yellowstone, but just as meaningful are the intimate views of nature this little Texas treasure provides simply by the compactness of its size and the variety of ecosystems available within a short distance from the campsite. Writing this makes me want to hop in my car and drive 16 hours, covering more than 1000 miles, just so I can sit still on 46 acres and be. Of course, I have 90 acres here to do the same, but I don't. Here is my life--grasses to mow, trees to trim, flowerbeds to weed, chickens to feed--and I get so busy maintaining the place, I forget to experience it.
Balmorhea State Park provides that slowness vital to touching base with the foundations of life. Its remote location also provides one of the most profound night skies you will ever see--the milky way arcing over creosote and yucca scrub-land in glory, a Genesis-depth of understanding penetrating into the core of your normally distracted mind and heart.
References
Texas State Parks and Wildlife. Nature. n.d.
18 5 2020. <https://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/balmorhea/nature>.
Wikipedia. Balmorhea State Park. 1 March
2020. 18 May 2020. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balmorhea_State_Park>.
No comments:
Post a Comment