Texas Mountains

by Joe Nick Patoski

Shortlisted, Finalist, "Mountain Image" Category, Banff Mountain Book Festival, 2002
Southwest Book Award, Border Regional Library Association.   Some of the most beautiful views in Texas are also the most remote. Seemingly endless miles lie between the isolated mountain ranges of the Trans-Pecos and the more populous parts of Texas and New Mexico, ensuring that only those who really crave the solitude, rugged loveliness, and hundred-mile vistas of the mountains will ever make the trek. In this book, Laurence Parent and Joe Nick Patoski join forces to offer breathtaking views of the Texas mountains. With magnificent images and words, they take us on a journey not only through the familiar Guadalupe, Davis, and Chisos mountains, but also through lesser-known ranges with evocative names such as Sierra Diablo, Eagle, Chinati, Beach, and Christmas. Capturing the Texas mountains from first light to the glowing rays of sunset and from winter snows to summer droughts, Parent's photographs reveal many hidden treasures—pine forests, waterfalls, old forts, aspens, movie sets, Indian pictographs, and red-rock pinnacles. Patoski's text ranges as widely as the photos, using places from Marathon to El Paso's Franklin Mountains as starting points for "field notes" that explore the myriad ways in which the land has shaped and been shaped by the people who live on it. For everyone who longs for mountain views and wide-open spaces, Texas Mountains comes as close to being there as you can get without endless driving.

Genres: Photography, Travel

155 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2001

Reviews

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's more to west Texas than a lot of flat nothing, plus Big Bend of course. We who don't live in Texas, tend to forget that Texas has mountains, partly because they aren't as big as the Rockies, and they're way off where not too many people live. This book has some lovely pictures of those mountains and some of the plants and scenery. The text covers the mountains, and the people who live there and why. Interesting, but rather disjointed.
They talk about a lot of different mountain ranges that I never heard of, but the map showing where they are is at the back, where you don't even find it till the end, if you read or look at pictures going from the front to the back. The map would have been more useful at the beginning. Along with the map is a 7-page list of all the mountain ranges in alphabetical order, giving a brief description, the highest elevation, the kind of rock, soil, and plant life.

[Troy Stirman · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever wondered where in the world the Chisos mountains are located in relation to the Guadalupe range, or asked yourself if there was civilization nearby that offered entertainment as well as local folklore and something to eat, or maybe you're a 'foodie' and crave hole-in-the-wall joints in addition to bouldering, then this book is for you. It weaves local history, terrain, ongoing geo-political challenges, and awesome quotes from the locals who love the quiet but awkwardly crave the touristas' visit for their annual revenue dollars.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book with photographs of rugged west Texas along with its cultural and geographical information.

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing, lovely photography that really captures the beauty of west Texas. The text is disjointed and meandering, but gives a interesting look at the place and some of the Texans who live in it.