A Climb to the Top

Saturday was a beautiful day to be on top of the world! That's how Jenny, Fawn and I felt as we hauled ourselves 4 miles up to the 7,192' elevation of Mt. Franklin (highest peak in the Franklin Mountain range) and viewed the world at our feet. Light cloud cover kept things cool and comfortable as we picked our way across rock slides, evidence of the 2006 floods, and traversed countless switchbacks. Sadly, the arctic cold we experienced a month ago was also evident in the number of dead cacti along the path.


Lively conversation and the almonds & dried apricots Jenny generously shared made it a fun and invigorating day. We realized too late that we forgot to use our sunscreen, thus we shall now be known as the Three Redneck Amigos.

One of the many rock slides



View of northwest El Paso and into New Mexico.
For perspective, enlarge picture to see no fewer than 4 people walking on the rock slide.



Jenny and Fawn

View of northeast El Paso from Mundy's Gap; some of the switchbacks

Northeast El Paso behind us. To the north we could see Cloudcroft and Ruidoso areas; to the south we could see the sand dunes in Mexico which I didn't even know existed.


Our next goal: Ranger Peak in April - we welcome fellow hikers!