The Texas coast attracts everyone—children playing in the surf and building sand castles; high school and college students partying at spring break; adults easing workaday stresses by beachcombing, birding, fishing, or just watching the waves roll in one after another. In the coast's elemental landscape of low dunes, sandy beaches, salt water, and sea breezes, life itself seems simpler. There's time to watch the seagulls fighting over a fish, bodysurf in the waves, pick up shells on the beach, and reconnect with the healing rhythms of nature.
This beautiful book combines Laurence Parent's magnificent photographs with Joe Nick Patoski's entertaining text to create a one-of-a-kind portrait of the Texas coast. Parent's images capture Texas beaches, bays, estuaries, and salt marshes from Sabine Pass near the Louisiana border to Boca Chica, where the Rio Grande (sometimes) enters the Gulf of Mexico. He records all the familiar and distinctive scenes—sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico and sunset over the bays, sand dunes covered in goat-foot morning glories, historic lighthouses, shrimp boats and sailboats in harbor, and our favorite destinations of Galveston, Port Aransas, Corpus Christi, and South Padre Island. He also highlights lovely, lesser-known places you may not have discovered yet, such as Brazos Bend State Park.
Joe Nick Patoski takes you on a verbal tour of the Texas coast. He describes the irresistible allure of this undramatic yet somehow unforgettable chain of barrier islands and bays. He also acknowledges the human activity that has always been a part of the coastal story—the arrival of immigrants to settle Texas; Civil War battles at Sabine Pass, Galveston, and Palmetto Ranch; towns, such as Indianola, that flourished and then suddenly folded after devastating hurricanes; the building of a huge petrochemical industry; and the successful effort to create wildlife refuges to sustain migrating birds and endangered species such as whooping cranes and Kemp's ridley sea turtles.
Together, Parent and Patoski make it plain why people return to the coast as regularly as waves lap the beach. Looking through Texas Coast may well be where your next visit begins.

Texas Coast

Arts & Photography

Patoski, Joe Nick

Parent, Laurence

Individual Artists

University of Texas Press

Big Bend National Park is one of the few places left in America where a person can literally get away from it all. Nestled in the great bend of the Rio Grande that forms one of the most distinctive features of the silhouette of Texas, the park is several hundred miles from any large city. Within its 1,250 square miles of mountains, canyons, desert, and river, Big Bend National Park offers visitors respite from the stresses of urban living—a place for taking stock and charting new courses. That's one reason why many people return to the park year after year.
This book is the first and only comprehensive photographic and word portrait of Big Bend National Park. Laurence Parent presents a magnificent photo gallery of park scenes. He portrays the mountain ranges—Chisos, Dead Horse, Rosillos, and Sierra del Carmen—from first light to moonrise and in all seasons and weather. He includes dramatic images of Santa Elena, Mariscal, and Boquillas canyons, as well as landmark features such as Mule Ears Peaks, Elephant Tusk, and the Chisos Basin Window. Parent also portrays the ephemeral beauty of Big Bend wildflowers, including giant bluebonnets and blooming prickly pear cactus, as well as the traces of human habitation at ghost towns scattered around the park.
Joe Nick Patoski complements Parent's images with a masterfully crafted word portrait of Big Bend National Park. Patoski describes the powerful geologic and volcanic forces that created the awe-inspiring landscape of the Big Bend. He reviews the park's natural history and also its human history, from the prehistoric hunter-gathers who ranged over the region to Cabeza de Vaca, who was probably the first European to see Big Bend, to the creation of the national park in the 1930s and 1940s. Patoski also summarizes recent conservation efforts that have led to the protection of 2.1 million acres on both sides of the Rio Grande.
Although no single book could ever hope to contain the vastness of Big Bend National Park between two covers, this one beautifully captures its essence.

Big Bend National Park (Bill and Alice Wright Photography Series)

Since it was first published in 1996, Official Guide to Texas State Parks and Historic Sites has become Texans' one-stop source for information on great places to view scenic landscapes, tour historical sites, camp, fish, hike, backpack, swim, ride horseback, go rock climbing, and enjoy almost any other outdoor recreation.
This revised edition includes five new state parks and historical sites, completely updated information for every park, and many beautiful new photographs. The book is organized by geographical regions to help you plan your trips around the state. For every park, Laurence Parent provides all of the essential information:
<ul>
<li>The natural or historical attractions of the park</li>
<li>Types of recreation offered</li>
<li>Camping and lodging facilities</li>
<li>Addresses and phone numbers</li>
<li>A locator map</li>
<li>Magnificent color photographs</li>
</ul>
So if you want to watch the sun set over Enchanted Rock, fish in the surf on the beach at Galveston, or listen for a ghostly bugle among the ruins of Fort Lancaster, let this book be your complete guide. Don't take a trip in Texas without it.

Official Guide to Texas State Parks and Historic Sites: Revised Edition

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

Many people know the Rio Grande as a recreational river—a place for float trips through the canyons of Big Bend; for fishing at Lakes Amistad and Falcon; for archaeological study of ancient pictographs at the river's confluence with the Pecos; or for hiking the river in New Mexico and Colorado. Yet these pleasant interludes on the Rio Grande in its more scenic stretches are only part of its story. The other parts include controversies over water rights and water quality, terrorism threats both real and imagined, and the smuggling of drugs and humans across the international border. In Big River, Rio Grande, acclaimed photographer Laurence Parent teams up with former Texas Parks &amp; Wildlife editor David Baxter to create an expansive portrait of this magnificent river that highlights both its timeless beauty and its current challenges.
Laurence Parent's photographs capture many of the most dramatic and lovely stretches of the Rio Grande from its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico to its headwaters 1,896 miles northwest in Colorado. He includes striking scenes of the canyons and Sierra del Carmen Mountains of the Big Bend in Texas and Mexico, of the Conchos River in Mexico, of the Carson and Santa Fe National Forests in New Mexico, and of the Rio Grande National Forest and San Juan Mountains in Colorado, to mention only a few places. David Baxter tells a contemporary story of the river through the voices of people who are working passionately for its survival—ranchers and other citizen activists, water rights attorneys and water managers, scientists who study endangered fish species, government and law enforcement officials, and river outfitters.

Big River, Rio Grande (Corrie Herring Hooks Series)

Baxter, David

Photography & Video

"This book will be in great demand by travelers, park visitors, and aficionados of Texas landscapes."
—James Wright Steely, Director of National Register Programs, Texas Historical Commission 
Whether you enjoy looking at scenic landscapes, touring historical sites, camping, fishing, hiking, backpacking, swimming, boating, horseback riding, rock climbing, or almost any other outdoor recreation, there's a state park in Texas where you can pursue your pleasure. From the Panhandle to the Rio Grande Valley, the Pineywoods to the Big Bend, some 125 state parks offer you a natural escape from fast-lane living.
 This book is the only official and complete guide to the state parks of Texas. Loaded with accurate, up-to-date information from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, it describes the attractions of each park and gives details—including a locator map—about camping and lodging facilities, types of recreation offered, and addresses and phone numbers for more information.
 To assist you in planning trips, the parks are grouped into seven geographic regions—Big Bend Country, Gulf Coast, Hill Country, Panhandle Plains, Pineywoods, Prairies and Lakes, and the South Texas Plains. With gorgeous color photographs and an inviting text, Laurence Parent depicts the natural features and attractions of each region.
 So if you want to watch the sunset over Enchanted Rock, fish in the surf on the beach at Galveston, or listen for a ghostly bugle among the ruins of Fort Lancaster, let this book be your complete guide. Don't take a trip in Texas without it.

Official Guide to Texas State Parks (Learn About Texas)

History

Americas

Hiking Big Bend National Park (Regional Hiking)

Sports & Outdoors

Hiking & Camping

UNKNO

From the rugged Guadalupe Mountains in the west and the deep canyons of the Red River in the Panhandle to the lakes on the eastern landscape, the Texas backcountry is as spacious and diverse as the Lone Star State itself. This guide contains unforgettable hikes that suit all abilities and interests.

Hiking Texas: A Guide To 85 Of The State's Greatest Hiking Adventures

Falcon Guides

With 30 carefully selected scenic drives, this book offers myriad ways to explore the Land of Enchantment. Pass through the foothills of the Sangre De Cristo Mountains, stop in the ghost town of Madrid, or gaze at the immense caves of Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Scenic Driving New Mexico (Scenic Driving Series)

Travel

Reference

Falcon Pr Pub Co

Discover the Lone Star State with 30 recommended drives including maps, directions, camping information, best seasons for travel, and points of interest. See the granite dome of Enchanted Rock, cruise along Bluewater Highway on the Gulf Coast, or traverse the rugged mountains and desert country of Big Bend National Park.

Scenic Driving Texas (Scenic Driving Series)

Food, Lodging & Transportation

Fully updated and revised, this comprehensive guide features forty-seven trails in Big Bend National Park.

Hiking Big Bend National Park (Regional Hiking Series)

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