Celebration of Our Mountains

Sparkling Apple Cider at The Palisades!

Rosario Walton — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 17:52:58 +0000

After you are done hiking all the trails and arroyos of The Palisades meet us for a loud and strong toast for this New Year.

Tamales , Champurrado and The Cave

Rosario Walton — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:22:28 +0000

Meet us at the cave at The Palisades for tamales and champurrado. Feel free to bring pastries and your favorite drink.

To get to the cave;

The Palisades entrance is at the intersection of 2000 Robinson and Kingery.

Cross the gate and stay to the left in the main road this hike is about half of mile to the cave. If you are in the road to the towers you are in the wrong path.

Birdwatching El Paso Upper Valley

Janet Perkins — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:51:01 +0000

Sandhill Cranes

El Paso/Trans-Pecos Audubon Society will host a birdwatching trip on Saturday, December 17, 2011 to the Sod Farms, Sunland Park Area and Upper Valley. The sod farm is known for great winter birds, from Sandhill Cranes to many small birds, such as the uncommon Grasshopper Sparrow and Baird’s Sparrow. We’ll be looking for birds that spend the cold months in grassland habitat. In the Sunland Park and Upper Valley area we will be looking for overwintering water birds and land birds. Meet at 7:30 a.m. at Keystone Heritage Park, 4200 Doniphan Drive. Beginners and nonmembers are always welcome. Contact Mark Perkins at 637-3521 or mperkins4@elp.rr.com.

Ice Canyon Hike

Jim Tolbert — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 17:09:32 +0000

Camping at Cochise Stronghold Campground

Rosario Walton — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 02:09:53 +0000

Cochise Stronghold, located in the Dragoon Mountains, was the last refuge of Cochise and his band of apaches. Today this is a beautiful area of spheroidally weathered rock spires loved by rock climbers. We will drive over the Friday morning after Thanksgiving, set up camp in the established campground, and go for a hike. On Saturday morning we will hike over the Stronghold Divide and back around to the campgound along an old Indian trail with pictographs (~6 miles) then drive to the west side of the Stronghold to camp the second night. We will have evening campfires.

Logistics: 268 miles and a 4 and 1/2 hour drive from El Paso to Cochise Stronghold where we will car camp and hike. Bring water as we will dry camp in the national forest one night. High clearance vehicle preferable.

Mossman Arroyo Trail Head to Dripping Springs Road

Jim Tolbert — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 19:28:04 +0000

When: Saturday Nov. 5th
What: Walking the northern part of the Sierra Vista trail
Where: from the Mossman Arroyo trail head to Dripping Springs road.
Meeting time: 7:30 AM
Meeting Place: Shell Station I-10 and Transmountain Road
Length of hike: 9-10 miles
Difficulty: Moderate to difficult (because of length)
Elevation gain: there is some but it is gradual
Type: on trail; there is a good trail all the way. It winds thru the desert and has its ups and downs. No mountain climbing.
Hiking time: 4-6 hours, includes breaks
Bring: plenty of water, snacks, sack lunch, sunblock, hat
Dogs: yes if they have some training and are well behaved around people and other dogs,
but remember this is a ten miles hike and may be too long for some dogs.
Other: Not recommeded for young children.
The Las Cruces Hiking group is doing the same hike but from Dripping Springs to Mossman Arroyo. If you sign up to go be willing to do a key exchange with them.
Contact person: Carol Brown 915-630-1424 Please let me know by Friday morning if you will do this hike, so I and Samat can co-ordinate the key exchange.

Hike to The Top of the World!

Rosario Walton — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 17:02:18 +0000

This is a difficult but enjoyable hike to the rim of the Franklin Mountains. We will take the trails to the stone house, continue in the thousand steps trail and to the rim of The Franklin Mountains.

Introduction to Geocaching

Jay Koester — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:25:16 +0000

There are more than 40 geocaches in El Paso’s Franklin Mountains. The main geocaching website is geocaching.com, which describes geocaching this way: “Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.”

We’ll do a short, kid-friendly hike (less than 2 miles round-trip) during which we’ll find two of the geocaches in the Franklin Mountains. Hike is moderately difficult, with some uneven terrain.

Bring your portable GPS device if you have one and want to use it. If not, don’t worry, there will be plenty to guide us.

Hike begins at 9 a.m. in the parking lot for the Mundy’s Gap trail in the Tom Mays unit of the Franklins.

Ladera Canyon to Achenbach Canyon

Jim Tolbert — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:43:21 +0000

Ladera Canyon to Achenbach Canyon

When: Saturday Oct. 29th
Where: Organ Mountains
What: Hike Ladera Canyon to Achenbak Canyon and up to
the ridge
Meeting Time: 7:30 AM
Meeting Place: Shell Station I-10 and Transmountain
Length of hike: 6-8 miles
Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult
Elevation Gain: 1000 feet
Type: mostly off trail
Hiking time: 5 hours
Bring: plenty of water, snacks, sack lunch,
Contact Person: Carol Brown 915-630-1424

Another Fossil Challenge Morning to Celebrate Scenic Sunday “A Walk Through Time”

Rosario Walton — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:56:56 +0000

Join us for a moderate hike in one of the arroyos close to Scenic Drive for a fossil challenge morning to help celebrate Scenic Sunday “A walk Trough Time”

We will hike the same trail as the first hike.