Longhorn Fight

— A trip to Big Bend Ranch SP is an adventure any way you look at it. Just the last 20 miles on that dirt road to get to the Sauceda House can be exciting. The photo above was made during one of my first trips to that park. The park is the state’s largest, and it has 300,000 acres of pristine land. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department purchased the ranch in 1988, but it only fully opened to the public in 2007. The park has over 500 prehistoric sites and shelters. During this particular visit in 2012, we learned a lot about the park, including that it has an on-going live herd of certified Longhorn cattle. One morning, we met with one of the Longhorn historians who gave us a brief lesson about the cattle in the ranch. He even showed us a book where he keeps all the birth and ancestry information for each Longhorn in the park. This weekend we were there, there was a live Longhorn auction. The park was packed with real cowboys and Longhorns.