I was able to spend a very brief amount of time; just a couple of hours, on the scenic loop around the Davis Mountains of Trans-Pecos Texas. This is a beautiful area, nearly National Park quality scenic views, but unfortunately, public access is very limited. The Nature Conservancy has much of it locked down, and the rest belongs mostly to private ranchers. There is a state park in a portion of the range, although not the real high country, and there is an observatory and small town that you can explore. But mostly, you just get to drive along the scenic byway, one of the quietest, loneliest roads I've driven on (which is nice; you can stop whenever you want and take pictures or whatever). Here's a few of those pictures.
About five years ago, I saw that Livermore and Gearhart, two neighboring ranches, were for sale. Livermore in particular had access to spectacular scenery. Sadly, I wasn't in possession of the better part of $20 million, so I had to pass, and it looks like it sold to someone else. If I won the lottery or something (which I don't play, so... y'know) I'd reach out to the broker on that old listing and see if I could convince the guy to sell it to me, and I'd live there full time. Or mostly so, at least. I could probably get most of what I need in Alpine about 45 or so minutes away, but I'd occasionally have to make a bigger excursion to Midland or El Paso.
Most of the pictures I took are of Sawtooth Mountain, which is probably the most charismatic mountain on the loop. But I didn't really spend enough time taking pictures; the whole thing is really special.
I took a few others, but mostly, the Davis Mountains are pretty in a kind of understated way, so they didn't make the cut to transfer to my computer to use as wallpapers. The highest peaks, Livormore and Baldy, are dramatically rugged, but you can only get so close to them on the scenic loop, so I didn't take any pictures of them.
