17 Stories of Fatality & Rescue in the Park. Most visitors to Big Bend National Park enjoy a wonderful, incident-free vacation and return home with great photos, thrilling memories, and stories of excitement and adventure. But accidents, even catastrophes, can happen. For a rare few park visitors, a simple mistake, a lack of adequate preparation, or just plain bad luck has led to deadly or near deadly outcomes. Heat stroke, dehydration, hypothermia, drowning, falls, lightning, and even murder have claimed victims at Big Bend. This book chronicles selected serious injuries, dramatic rescues, and tragic fatalities that have occurred in the park since the early 1980s. Death in Big Bend contains useful information that could one day save your life.
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About the Author
Laurence Parent was born and raised in New Mexico. After receiving a petroleum engineering degree at the University of Texas at Austin in 1981, he practiced engineering for six years before becoming a full-time freelance photographer and writer specializing in landscape, travel, and nature subjects. Hundreds of his photos appear in calendars every year. His article and photo credits include National Geographic Traveler, Men's Journal, Outside, Backpacker, Sierra, Natural History, National Parks, Newsweek, Arizona Highways, Travel & Leisure, and the New York Times. He contributes regularly to regional publications such as Texas Highways, Texas Monthly, New Mexico Magazine, and Texas Parks & Wildlife. Parent has done 38 books. His latest is a large format color book, Big River, Rio Grande, that was released in the fall of 2009. Another large format color book, Portrait of Austin, was released in October 2008. In 2007, the large format coffee-table book, New Mexico Wild and Beautiful, was published. Also in 2007, he had three other books published: Austin Impressions, San Antonio Impressions, and Santa Fe Impressions. Additional books and credits appear on his website.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Death in Big Bend by Laurence Parent is a fascinating book. With journalistic precision, the author retells 17 gripping true stories about people who died or were rescued in Big Bend National Park.
Set in the mountainous northern Chihuahuan Desert in far West Texas, these stories invoke a harrowing sense of how vulnerable we are as humans. For those with a morbid curiosity about survivalism, these accounts will provide a satisfactory buffet of grim entrées. From lightning strikes to heat stroke to hypothermia to homicidal bandits, Death in Big Bend examines the danger of underestimating the changing conditions of the desert while proving that real life is more incredible than any fictional adventure.
Death in Big Bend's most intense story is that of Bryan Brock, a climber who got stranded mid-air in an uncharted canyon when his rappelling gear got stuck on a knot in his rope. Without the proper tools to get around the knot and without the strength to go back up, Brock was left dangling with the onset of a freezing winter night only a few hours away. His climbing companion performed superhuman feats of cross-country navigation and endurance to get back to the park headquarters and request a rescue team. Brock's rescue story is told at an adrenaline-pumping pace as you wonder, "Will they make it in time?"
The chapter about the death of Shannon Roberts is the most bizarre in the book, as if it's the hybrid brainchild of Yukio Mishima and Truman Capote. While chasing a drug smuggler on foot, a ranger discovered partially buried human remains shielded by a dome of chicken wire. Tent stakes and duct tape were found near the body. The victim, Shannon Roberts, emerged as a suicidal 43-year-old man with an unrequited crush on a young male friend. Following suggestions that the death was an assisted suicide, investigators tracked down a naďve criminal who offered a grisly confession.
Laurence Parent's extensive research and multitudinous interviews with park officials provide an insider's rendering of these tragic events. His descriptions are unembellished and thorough, warmed by personal reflections from the family members of victims and punctuated by exact details from law enforcement reports. His characters are real people - inexperienced hikers, unlucky outdoorsmen, and stalwart park rangers and volunteers - whose lives intersected suddenly in life-or-death situations.
Some of these stories will make you grimace. A couple will make you downright paranoid. But every story in Death in Big Bend will make you reflect upon the rapidity with which life's certainties can evaporate. This is a recommended read for backcountry trekkers, adventure junkies, and fans of the true crime genre.
Set in the mountainous northern Chihuahuan Desert in far West Texas, these stories invoke a harrowing sense of how vulnerable we are as humans. For those with a morbid curiosity about survivalism, these accounts will provide a satisfactory buffet of grim entrées. From lightning strikes to heat stroke to hypothermia to homicidal bandits, Death in Big Bend examines the danger of underestimating the changing conditions of the desert while proving that real life is more incredible than any fictional adventure.
Death in Big Bend's most intense story is that of Bryan Brock, a climber who got stranded mid-air in an uncharted canyon when his rappelling gear got stuck on a knot in his rope. Without the proper tools to get around the knot and without the strength to go back up, Brock was left dangling with the onset of a freezing winter night only a few hours away. His climbing companion performed superhuman feats of cross-country navigation and endurance to get back to the park headquarters and request a rescue team. Brock's rescue story is told at an adrenaline-pumping pace as you wonder, "Will they make it in time?"
The chapter about the death of Shannon Roberts is the most bizarre in the book, as if it's the hybrid brainchild of Yukio Mishima and Truman Capote. While chasing a drug smuggler on foot, a ranger discovered partially buried human remains shielded by a dome of chicken wire. Tent stakes and duct tape were found near the body. The victim, Shannon Roberts, emerged as a suicidal 43-year-old man with an unrequited crush on a young male friend. Following suggestions that the death was an assisted suicide, investigators tracked down a naďve criminal who offered a grisly confession.
Laurence Parent's extensive research and multitudinous interviews with park officials provide an insider's rendering of these tragic events. His descriptions are unembellished and thorough, warmed by personal reflections from the family members of victims and punctuated by exact details from law enforcement reports. His characters are real people - inexperienced hikers, unlucky outdoorsmen, and stalwart park rangers and volunteers - whose lives intersected suddenly in life-or-death situations.
Some of these stories will make you grimace. A couple will make you downright paranoid. But every story in Death in Big Bend will make you reflect upon the rapidity with which life's certainties can evaporate. This is a recommended read for backcountry trekkers, adventure junkies, and fans of the true crime genre.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By W Caskey
Have you ever thought: "It could never happen to me"? Have you ever headed out to the back country and not taken food or extra water? Have you ever gone on a short desert hike never believing that you could find yourself lost and dehydrated? I am guilty.
I have been to most of the locations set in Lawrence Parent's new book Death in Big Bend. I was always confident and until I read the book, never knew just how easy it is to get in over your head at Big Bend National Park.
If you are a Bender or you plan to visit the park, read this book. It might just save your life.
I have been to most of the locations set in Lawrence Parent's new book Death in Big Bend. I was always confident and until I read the book, never knew just how easy it is to get in over your head at Big Bend National Park.
If you are a Bender or you plan to visit the park, read this book. It might just save your life.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
By John Reenan
I recently took Death In Big Bend by Laurence Parent with me on a 10 day backcountry trip to Yosemite. I was done in 2 days, despite my best efforts to savor it slowly. The book has the writing pace and drama of a thriller, makes a genuine effort to teach lessons which I (a seasoned hiker) even got some new tips. Highly recommend this book even if you don't go to BB or haven't been to BB.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome informative book if you plan a serious hike in Big Bend
Big Bend NP is one of my favorite places in TX. I go there nearly once a year. This book was given to me by a colleague who also enjoys the outdoors and has been hiking a lot more... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mike the Texan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good read
If your a fan of Big Bend like I am you want as much info as you can get your hands on and this book gives you a really good view of some of the dangers associated with this type... Read more
Published 11 months ago by J. Mason
5.0 out of 5 stars
Death in the Big Bend
You had better be well prepared to go hiking in such a vast, wild environment
or it will scare you to death. Read more
or it will scare you to death. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Cowboygirl
5.0 out of 5 stars
Death in Beg Bend
I bought this book after visiting Big Bend National Park this past summer. On the first night of our visit we saw the border control helicopter circling around the Rio Grande... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Jessica Hansen
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting If You've Been There
I seem to be a sucker for these "Death in..." National Park books, having read one on Yellowstone and another on the Grand Canyon after visits to those parks. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Wayne A. Smith
1.0 out of 5 stars
Exploitation for Money
Death in the Big Bend has the appeal of a traffic accident. That is to say that even though it might make you sick to see someone badly hurt, it is difficult to take your eyes off... Read more
Published on December 25, 2010 by Shelly Cunningham
4.0 out of 5 stars
Harrowing tails from one of the most isolated parks
There's a lot of things about Big Bend I love.. it's massive size, it's isolation (you have to really want to go there) and its wide swings in temps from the desert floor to the... Read more
Published on December 6, 2010 by Danimal
5.0 out of 5 stars
must-read for anyone visiting Big Bend
I made the mistake of reading this book at night in my tent camped at Big Bend National Park. Needless to say, the stories about murders in the park spooked me a little, and I... Read more
Published on November 22, 2010 by Raoul Duke
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good book if you're a Big Bend aficionado
If you're not familiar with Big Bend you may find this book kind of mundane. However, if you know the places described in the book, it's quite interesting. Read more
Published on October 23, 2010 by MW
5.0 out of 5 stars
National Parks are not Amusement Parks
This splendid little book has an important message: National Parks are not Amusement Parks. Visiting them involves some risk. Read more
Published on October 14, 2010 by Wilburn Sprayberry
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