Over 1,200 species of plants are found within Big Bend National Park—a surprising diversity considering the unforgiving influence of a desert climate (even at the highest elevations), and an exceptionally rugged landscape with imposing geological variations set in stone. This implausible landscape includes not only thousands of acres of exposed desert badlands (dotted here and there by a rare riparian oasis), but also a meandering ribbon of river corridor gorged by steep-walled canyons, and a lofty sky island of forested peaks and ridges.