![](https://img.texasmonthly.com/2019/01/conversations-with-a-grasshopper-big-bend-solitario.jpg?auto=compress&crop=faces&fit=fit&fm=jpg&h=0&ixlib=php-3.3.1&q=45&w=270)
Conversations With a Grasshopper
To experience the majesty and peril of the desert on my own terms, I spent a week alone in the Solitario, the most remote area of Big Bend Ranch State Park. I confronted my darkest fears—and made small talk with an insect.