A carved-Indian figure near the Terilingua "ghost town," some of which is still occupied and some of which consists of ruins of the Chisos quicksilver-mining company, which operated from 1905 into the early 1940s, and the residences of those who worked there. (Quicksilver is a now little-unused term for the liquid metal mercury.) A Web site for the town speaks of "scenic downtown Terlingua, Texas -- just a few exits past the end of the world." The dusty half-ghost, half-real town can be found on the road that connects Big Bend National Park with its state equivalent, Big Bend Ranch State Park, in southern Brewster County, Texas. Photo by Carol Highsmith.