Christmas Mountains: No Country for Old Men

Thanks to a decision this month by Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, the 9,269-acre Christmas Mountains will be open to the public for the first time in at least 17 years.

But as novelist Cormac McCarthy might say, it's no country for old men.

To get there, the curious hiker will have to come in through Big Bend National Park and then cross over miles of tough back country. That part alone might take four hours. And then once a hiker arrives at the boundary of the mountain range, it gets even tougher.

"You'll come to a steep, rugged mountain side," Big Bend superintendent William Wellman said Friday. "To legally access the mountains, you have to go hand-over-hand and scramble up the mountainside."

Wellman encourages anyone making it to check with park officials first -- "in case something goes wrong."

Unlike the situation at Big Bend, the National Park Service has no authority over the Christmas Mountains. However, the National Park Service has a mutual-aid agreement with Brewster County -- which does have jurisdiction -- and so the park service would send out search and rescue teams if called upon, said Wellman.

-- R.A. Dyer

Comments

[Jim]

This is the same man who tried to sell this public land to private investors. Only the outcry of Texas' citizens stopped him from doing it. This is also the man who wanted to sell our state park on Eagle Mountain Lake. And it was the overwhelming complaints of the citizens that stopped him from doing it. Keep an eye on him. His not through trying to sell off our public lands.Remember that name,JERRY PATTERSON, Texas Land Commissioner. If he has his and Rick Perry's way, There won't be much, if any, public land left in Texas. He is also a player in forcing the despicable Trans Texas Corridor down our throats.

[Colt]

So what they are saying is , if you go in there, your pretty much on your own. As it should be. Some big headed super hiker/rock climber who's day job is in a cubical, will most likely get himself and others in harms way at some point. It's enevitable.
People that get themselves stuck endanger not only themselves, but also the real "experts" who come to their rescue. Not to mention the cost for men, machines, medical supplies, helicopters.......the list goes on.
It can cost a quarter mil to pluck some nut case off a mountain, easy. Check the cost per hour for search planes or helicopters.
If prickly pear, rattle snakes and mountain lions aren't enough, the two legged threats one might encounter in such country could include drug dealers and illegal imigrants or terrorist.
I have hunted and camped in Texas all my life but there are places I would not go. That's how I got to be an "old man"....lol

[Clay Allison]

This land was given to Texas...free...and the only condition was that it be made available for public use and recreation. Now, Jerry Patterson wants to turn it over to some buddies and is disguising his motives by claiming that his purpose is to make the land available for hunting. Big Bend would love to accept responsibility for it (they're adjacent) but Jerry won't abide that because the NPS wouldn't allow animals to be shot. He could turn it into a state park, recreation area, or wildlife refuge in which hunting could be permitted in season, but then us lowly ordinary citizens could go hiking on it. Can't have that... The folks that gave it to the state would even buy the land back, but Jerry just laughs them off. How long, how long, Texans, are we going to put up with arrogant politicians like Jerry Patterson?