My yearly trip to the desert southwest was taken the week of March 10th, 2003. Tom Slater and I flew into El Paso on March 7th. We stayed one night in El Paso and ate Mexican food at night. The restaurant we ate at now holds the record for slowest service in the USA; we finally got our food! Except for stops at an El Paso cactus nursery and at Fort Stockton, Saturday was a travel day from El Paso to Big Bend National Park. When we got to the park all campsites were were full and we were forced to camp outside the park at the Stillwell Ranch. This was not a bad situation, though. The campsite was level and the star show was good at night. Before sunset Tom and I hiked up the hill by our campsite. The photo above is the view from the top of the hill at Stillwell Ranch. The prominent cactus shown is the Strawberry Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus stramineus).