Hueco Tanks State Historical Site, Texas

Climbing in the Rocks

As we crossed into El Paso Texas, the mileage sign read 892 miles to Beaumont TX. That's a long ways across Texas. If we are going to drive through the state we might as well "see" it. Even if we are only going half way this time.

We learned about Hueco (whey-coe) Tanks State Historic Site 30 miles north of El Paso from Raven and Chickadee's blog. It has one of the largest groups of Native American rock paintings and masks in North America

As we were driving to the park, Mike asked "where in the heck are we going?" I was thinking the same thing. Until we reached the rocks, things were looking a little shaky.

We watched the required 15 minute video in the visitors center reminding people to be good stewards of the place and help preserve the area before hitting the trails.

We made reservations for the 20 site campground but only six sites taken during our stay. It gets very dark at night as the stars filled up the sky.

We planned ahead reserving a self guided permit for the day that we arrived since only 70 people can enter North Mountain at a time due to the fragile nature of the park.

As far back as 1,500 years ago, Hueco Tanks visitors left pictographs and petroglyphs around the area. This was a stop for the Butterfield mail stagecoach. Many of the people passing through left their signatures on the walls in the 1800s often over those from ancient times.

I was glad Mike had his hand on the chain as we climbed back down. His foot hit a section on rock that had broken away. He would have taken a bad fall if he had not been hanging on.

I also booked the guided tour in the guide only East and West Mountains several weeks in advance for the only slots left open for our weekend there. It would have been a shame to miss that.

Masks in the top of a cave.

Our guide was 78 years old. I wasn't sure what kind of tour this would be. At first he was walking slow and a bit unsteady. By the end of the tour, he had us climbing and navigating rock walls. OK, I know my thinking was "ageist". He is a retired history teacher and very good at spinning his tales. He said the some of the best pictographs were on North Mountain that could be accessed without a guide.

We climbed along the ledges above the valley for a stop in a cave for more stories from our guide.

People come from all over the world to boulder (rock climbing) with only their hands and a crash pad to catch them when they fall.

To get directions, we had to give the ranger our driver's license then he gave us a sort of map of directions to get to Cave Kiva. It took some rock scrambling to find it just off the trail we had been on a couple of days before. It helped that a couple were on the way back down from the cave as we were going up. Mike did his usual critter check before we headed in. It is one of his jobs, checking restrooms or other places critters could hide before I enter. He has only had one run in with a critter so far. He put his hand where he shouldn't have and a crab was on his finger when he removed it. But that's another story.

I hadn't charged my camera's battery in a while. Once we found Cave Kiva, it gave me a rude charge battery message and shut down. Actually, I was glad it happened as a reminder for me to take the charger along on a trip to Mexico we have planned later this winter. I believe I would have forgotten to pack it.

Several storms were brewing in the Pacific Ocean as we headed towards Fort Stockton, TX. We were parked between two large rigs that might have helped cut down on the wind and
gusts 55mph for two days. It gave us a chance to rest up, do laundry and stock up the fridge as we were winding down our two months traveling from Oregon to Texas Hill Country.