Why the Raven Calls the Canyon: Off the Grid in Big Bend Country

Fresno Ranch, an abandoned horse and mule operation located in a remote stretch of the Rio Grande River bordering Mexico, gives evidence of a human presence spanning centuries. The ranch saw a period of entrepreneurial mule breeding and ranching, and ownership by Texas artist and publishing heiress Jeanne Norsworthy, who built an off-the-grid, hand-constructed adobe studio on the premises.

Photographer and freelance writer E. Dan Klepper spent seven years, off and on, living and working at ...