About us

For more than 21 years, we’ve been hiking, biking, birding, climbing, photographing, geocaching, studying and celebrating the natural wonders of the Borderland. 

Begun in 1994 by Dr. Phil Goodell and other professors and students from the Geology department at the University of Texas at El Paso, the Celebration now has a diverse group of event leaders from Frontera Land Alliance, Texas Parks & Wildlife, Franklin Mountains State Park, Wyler Aerial Tramway State Park, Keystone Heritage Park, the Texas Master Naturalists, El Paso/Trans-Pecos Audubon Society, the El Paso Hiking Group, the El Paso Rockhounds, the Borderland Mountain Bike Association, the Mt. Cristo Rey Restoration Committee and many others. Celebration of Our Mountains has grown to encompass dozens of events each fall that get people in West Texas and Southern New Mexico outdoors to enjoy the natural wonders of the Borderland. Jim Tolbert has been the Celebration's coordinator since 2009.

Celebration of Our Mountains purpose is to get people outdoors and to explore the natural wonders in our part of the Chihuahuan Desert. As people learn more about their mountains, desert and wetlands, they come to appreciate the importance of conservation, preservation and good environmental stewardship.

THANK YOU to our volunteers who make all of our events possible. Thanks also to our sponsors. Thank you to Frontera Land Alliance for its new participation in the administration of our program. Thanks also to Morris Pittle, Two Ton Creativity, for the design and layout of our booklet and Destination El Paso and Wyler Aerial Tramway State Park for helping us get the word out about the Celebration by distributing our booklet far and wide.