Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site, El Paso, Texas
Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance. ~ Proverbs 20:18
Our last day in the Park and we still had a lot of ground to cover. Or should I say, rocks? Or maybe boulders? Mountains?
Anyway.
We began today at the Ranch House again, walking back to see the pictographs out back.
I know this one’s pretty old, because we saw it on a sign somewhere. 
And then we just wandered right up the rock pile and over toward the Chain Trail we wanted to check out. Based on what we heard from a father/daughter couple we met on the road yesterday, I wasn’t convinced that I’d be able to do it. They spoke of such a steep and dangerous climb that they turned around halfway up, and all I could think of was our time in Zion National Park when I couldn’t manage the final push to Angel’s Landing (also chains alongside a cliff edge), and even Blaine turned around and came back before he reached the top.
But we had other things to occupy our time first, and we could sometimes see the poles the chains are attached to, as well as climbers with their crash pads on their backs walking up.
Come on! Put your back into it!
Didn’t even budge . . . .
Probably a really good thing . . . .
Heading to the highest point he can get to.
I’ll just wait here, dear.
Word of advice? It’s almost always easier to go up than it is to come down. : )
Once we got to the spot where the chain begins, we watched a few climbers head up before we followed behind them. There was nothing to it!
Instead we came across the boulders. : )
Those square things on their backs are crash pads.
They put them underneath where they’re bouldering in case they fall.
We met an elderly gentleman climber who told us several places to look for pictographs in this area, so we set off, watching the bouldering climbers a bit. Incredible strength in the fingertips and toes of these people, and all were more than half our age, except for the one guy.
I don’t see any crash pads under him . . . Yikes!
Our wandering took us to another remarkable pictograph!
And then on to the edge of the mountain as we tried to find a way to the top, where there were supposed to be 360⁰ views, but we didn’t find a way all the way up. Still, Blaine intruded on a half dozen Aoudads, who quickly scampered around the corner and disappeared. And we saw other great views.
That’s why there’s a chain. : )
Once back off this part, we went exploring in the other area the guy mentioned in the canyon.
We found some more pictographs and old engravings and what were most likely some new graffiti trying to mimic the ancient drawings.
We immediately saw a dog’s head!
Back home for lunch (I’m kinda likin’ this going home in the middle of the day stuff!).
We returned to the canyon to complete our exploration of the previous area, since we got hungry and had to leave before we were finished.
Then back to Site 17, where we were with Carlos two days ago to finish exploring there.
Now the real climbing begins. Back to where we found Cave Kiva (It was easier today, now that we knew where to look for the clues. 😊), and then beyond that, to the highest point in the Park. The North Mountain Summit – 4,820’.
We reached a wonderful plateau and I stayed put. I really don’t care if I reach the highest point. Especially after seeing what Blaine had to do to get there!
Thank You, Father, for the safety, health and wealth that allows us to do these crazy things we love!