Calling all chili heads

If you’re a chili head, you probably already know about Terlingua, Texas, also known as the Chili Capital of the World. Since 1967, this old mining town in far West Texas has hosted an annual chili cookoff on the second Saturday in November. It started with a feud between food columnists who eventually formed the Chili Appreciation Society. More than 10,000 people gather in Terlingua for the annual Frank X Tolbert/Wick Fowler International Championship Chili Cook-Off. Situated under the Chisos Mountains in the Chihuahuan Desert, Terlingua was originally a thriving town dependent on the cinnabar ore mined in the mountains (cinnabar creates liquid mercury). The Chisos Mining Co. operated here until the Great Depression, and when it quit the town, Terlingua essentially became a ghost town. And that’s what you’ll find today: a ghost town with its crumbling buildings, an interesting cemetery with historic markers dating back to the early 1900s as well as modern-day tributes, a one-stop general store, and several restaurants offering everything from Tex-Mex to ice cream. The Big Bend National Park and Big Bend Ranch State Park offer 800,000 acres for hiking, mountain biking, and motorcycle touring (there are 100 miles of paved road through the parks). “Big Bend” refers to the bend in the Rio Grande where this desert oasis is located. The area is an International Dark Sky community where stargazing is a gorgeous phenomenon. There’s no better place to stargaze than from the huts at The Summit, a resort near the Lajitas Airport (T89) owned by Cirrus pilot Brent Pickette (see “Star Struck,” October 2024 AOPA Pilot).

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