Mark Spier Quotations

Usually the people we do find who have come across are harmless and have hit a wall of some sort. They've run out of water or food, are lost or are physically unable to continue, so they'll come to the roadway and give up.

Some of the people we've caught have come from as far away as the interior of Mexico from as far south as Mexico City. But most don't realize it's 70-80 miles, as the crow flies, from the border to the first east-west highway in and out of Alpine and there is nothing in between. People who underestimate that from a physical or watering standpoint come looking for help.

We're certainly not anywhere near to experiencing what the people to the east and to the west of us are. I think that's largely due to the fact that Big Bend is isolated geographically from most of Texas and Mexico as well. There's not a population base in Mexico to the south of the park and the roads are not good. It's an isolated, rugged, hard environment.

It was 80 today. We've already seen 90 this year. But even 50 at Big Bend is better than 20 in Denver.