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Greetings from Friends of Big Bend National Park!
Join us in the park February 20, 2010!
The FBBNP board will hold a meeting at Lajitas on the 19th. Then we will have two options for member tours in the park on Saturday February 20th. There is no cost for either tour.
The first outing will be to the top of the saddle on the Mesa de Anguilla just east of Lajitas. This will be a most of the day outing and about 8 miles round trip, and is considered strenuous. It includes the base of the Mesa lower country hiking and then a good hill climb with switch backs to the top of the Saddle. Once up, a wonderful view of the mesa is the reward. We will stop for lunch along the way. This is a lesser used route for many and new to most. It has great views of the Mesa’s unusual formations up top.
We recommend good hiking shoes, sunscreen, lunch or snacks and water. Lunch will not be provided – you will be responsible for bringing your own food/water. We will meet at 9am at the Lajitas Resort parking lot.
The second outing is to Indian Head and will start at 10AM at the Big Bend Motor Inn parking lot in Study Butte. This hike is a relatively easy 1/2 miles or so but includes some awesome native American sites. There are many signs of past occupation by those cultures of Native Americans who used Indian Head including great petroglyphs in the volcanic rocks. The tour will include information about who these people were. Bring your own water and sunscreen.
The Big Bend 50 Ultra Marathon is BACK!!
Interested in running an ultramarathon through beautiful Big Bend? Did the Ultra Run a few years ago and want to do it again? Perhaps a nice 10K jaunt through the park is more your style. Either way, the Big Bend 50 is for you. Join us in the park for the comeback of this race on January 16, 2011. Race entries are LIMITED, so keep your eye on the race website for registration details. Check out www.bigbend50.com for all race information. Proceeds from the race go to Friends of Big Bend National Park. Official event announcement is here.
Texas’ Big Bend is here!
The new photography book by Mike Marvins, Texas’ Big Bend is here. Friends of Big Bend National Park is a beneficiary of the book’s sales, and we are delighted to share in this great photographic tribute to the Big Bend region. Mike will be traveling the state all winter to sign books and talk to people about his experiences photographing Big Bend. Click here for a listing of Mike’s events.
You can always order your copy by clicking on the link in the top left column of this page. And we thank both you and Mike for your support!
$20,000 from Brown Foundation for Orientation Film Campaign
Our thanks to the Brown Foundation for their recent gift of $20,000 for our Orientation Film Campaign. This brings us to $95,000 raised for this campaign, over halfway to our goal of $150,000!!
$30,000 in Grants for Big Bend National Park
At the September 2009 Board of Directors meeting, the Board granted Big Bend National Park $30,000 for two projects, bringing the Friends total giving to the park to over $940,000 to date. The first grant of $15,000 went to improve night sky lighting in the Chisos Basin. The second grant, also of $15,000, will pay for a design charette for the future improvements to the palentology exhibit on 385. Click here for more details on these two great projects.
GoodSearch
Are you on the internet every day? If so, you can help Friends of Big Bend National Park while you are doing internet searches or internet shopping.
Friends of Big Bend National Park earns a penny every time you searched the Internet from the GoodSearch website. GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo-powered search engine that donates half its advertising revenue, about a penny per search, to the charities its users designate. Use it just as you would any search engine, get quality search results from Yahoo and help Big Bend National Park while you do it! Just go to www.goodsearch.com and enter Friends of Big Bend as the charity you want to support!