Mileage: 61,206 Hueco Tanks State Park El Paso, Texas

Tim was awake early and ready to go. Densely clouded, leaden skies and a temperature of 39 degrees meant that it was even colder at higher elevations and likely to snow. We were on our way south toward Silver City and we still had mountains to cross. Is it snowing on those peaks???

As we descended into the valley there were trees with tiny new leaves. This is my very favorite time of the year!

Pretty scenery.

Free range cattle farming.

We stopped for breakfast at Leopold Vista. Aldo Leopold was a visionary. He was an ecologist who believed that it was important to preserve wilderness or “an area still wild enough and big enough to travel on horseback for 2 weeks without crossing any roads or seeing other signs of human development.” In 1924 he was able to get the Forest Service to designate the Gila Forest as the nation’s first wilderness area. We are grateful for men like Leopold who had the foresight to create these beautiful public lands.

We thought about staying in Silver City. We had wanted to see the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument. We were going to find a campground for the RV and take the Jeep. It was going to take 2 hours to travel each way. It was a cold 49 degrees, and overcast. We decided to save that for another day and travel further south to El Paso where it was supposed to be 72 degrees. The choices for camping in and around El Paso were pretty dismal. The reviews were poor and all were near Route 10. We looked at the map and found Hueco Tanks State Park on the outskirts of El Paso. This would be a neat place to spend some time. We really got here too late in the day to hike around and see the pictographs. This park has a history of native presence that dates back 10,000 years. We both had to watch an orientation video to be able to camp here overnight. They are working very hard to protect what is left of the pictographs and other artifacts that remain. Unfortunately, prior to all their rules and protections, there was a lot of damage and graffiti in the park. Now only 70 people each day are allowed to come in and hike. 3/4 of the park is only accessible on guided tours and the gate is locked to the public at 6pm. They are serious about preserving the history of this sacred place.