Places in Texas: North Franklin Mountain

I often go hiking in the Franklin Mountains that run through the middle of El Paso, Texas to get some air and exercise and one of the best trails to do this on is the trail to the summit of North Franklin Mountain.  I have hiked this trail to the 7,192 feet (2,192 meters) summit of this tallest mountain in the Franklins three times before.  Each time has been enjoyable but on this hike I decided to do it early in the morning by starting my hike at 0630 AM when the park first opens.  The sun was just beginning to rise to the east which left the west side of the range with a cloak of remaining shadows:

As I started up the trail I could still make out just a little bit of color in the sky from the sunrise that morning:

As I ascended up the trail I was able to get this nice panoramic shot of the shadow left by the Franklin Mountains on its west side:

After about 45 minutes of walking I eventually came to Mundy’s Gap which is on the ridgeline of the Franklins.  It has a little bench there where hikers can sit down and take in the views to the east, which in my case included seeing the morning sun rise higher in the air:

Here is the view down the eastern side of the Franklins as it is bathed in the early morning sunlight:

Here is a picture of the nameless peak that overlooks Mundy’s Gap that was taking in the early morning sunlight with me:

To the south of Mundy’s Gap lies the twisting, switchbacked trail that take hikers to the summit of the mountain:

As I proceeded up the trail I slowly ascended towards the summit of the mountain that loomed above me:

Along the way I made sure to stop and take a few panoramic photos of the northern portion of the Franklin Mountains which I had great views of as I ascended higher and higher up the mountain:

In the below photo, the far left peak is that nameless peak I mentioned earlier in the posting that rises over Mundy’s Gap:

I though this picture came out nice with the wildflowers in the foreground:

After about a little over an hour the trail was approaching the summit of the mountain:

The summit of the mountain is capped with this weather station:

Here is a closeup look at the weather station that was locked shut by a number of chains and locks:

Here is the view from the summit looking towards upper valley area of El Paso.  If you look closely Transmountain Road that connects west El Paso with east El Paso is visible:

Here is view looking more towards West El Paso and once again Transmountain Road is visible at the bottom of the image:

Here is a closer look at Transmountain Road as it twist and turns across the Franklin Mountains to Northeast El Paso:

Here is the view from the summit looking towards Las Cruces that lies to the north:

Here is the view looking towards South Franklin Mountain and the southern portion of this mountain chain:

Here is a picture of the southern portion of the Franklin Mountains with some bright orange wildflowers in the foreground:

Here is the view towards El Paso to the south:

And here is the view towards Northeast El Paso and if you look closely at the picture you can see a small structure on the peak:

Before leaving the summit of the mountain I made sure to take one last photo of the northern portion of the Franklin Mountains.  If you look closely, in the distance the Organ Mountains outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico are visible:

On the way down the mountain I decided to take a little excursion to see what the small structure on a prominent peak on the side of North Franklin Mountain was.  It required me to momentarily leave the trail in order to access this peak.  However, there is a big sign there that warns hikers of leaving the trail since this once was an active US Army artillery range:

However, there is already a small trail leading towards the peak so I decided to follow it thinking that there wouldn’t be any unexploded ordinance on a trail that many people have already walked on.  The trail led to the peak adjacent to the one with the small structure:

It would have required me to go off trail through some difficult terrain to reach the small structure so I decided that this was far enough, especially considering the unexploded ordinance danger.  So I just zoomed in and took a picture of the structure with my camera:

If I had to guess I would say this small structure is a small weather station that has long been replaced by the one on the summit of the mountain. (UPDATE: This is actually a radio repeater; see comments)  Speaking of the summit here is the view back towards to the top of North Franklin Mountain from the peak I was currently on:

From this peak I also noticed that there was a vehicle down in the ravine below:

Here is a closeup look at this vehicle that appeared to have crashed down into this ravine many decades ago:

Here is also a view from the peak of some of the rugged topography that makes up the Franklin Mountains:

As I walked down the mountain I took a few pictures of some of the plants that a native to the Franklin Mountains:

Here is something else I saw on the way back down the mountain, this lush patch of trees known as East Cottonwood Spring:

This is one of the few places in the Franklin Mountains where trees like this can grow due to water dripping out of the rocks.  There was no trail leading down to the spring so I didn’t go down there to checkout.  As far as wildlife I saw a redish snake that quickly moved across the trail that too fast for me to catch a picture of.  I have no idea what it was but it was long and fast.  Besides that this large worm was the only thing I saw:

Finally here is one last picture of the summit of North Franklin Mountain as I descended down the mountain back towards the parking lot:

However, before I headed to the parking lot I was going to make one final stop along the way to see the West Cottonwood Spring.

Next Posting: West Cottonwood Spring