IN SEARCH OF WILE E. COYOTE THE ROAD: Marfa loop route (U.S. Route 67 to Farm Road 170 to Texas State Highway 118) to Big Bend National Park | DISTANCE: 236 miles | INFO: visitbigbend.com
THIS DESERT DRIVE crosses some of the most remote stretches in America. It travels from Marfa in West Texas — one very hip small art town — to the place where the Rio Grande meets the Chihuahuan Desert, over to the ghost town of Terlingua, Texas, and the Big Bend National Park. It’s the ideal setting to spy Wile E. Coyote chasing the celluloid inspiration for The Road Runner. Indeed, it’s here that real versions of the lightning-quick, small-chicken-sized bird eat local rattlesnakes and scorpions. Gorgeous red rocks, dagger points of agave lechuguilla, plump barrels of rainbow cacti and scrubby clumps of creosote dot the rugged roadside. In the cool mornings and evenings, you might glimpse jackrabbits. In the middle of a summer day, the desert floor can reach temperatures of 120 degrees, the oily black asphalt shimmering in the heat. Big Bend is a large national park but has very few visitors. Bring plenty of water, food and gear.
54 GO ESCAPE | SUMMER 2015
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