Join a Chihuahuan Desert expert on a Guided Hike at the Tom Mays section of Franklin Mountains State Park, Sunday, September 25, 2022REGISTER IN ADVANCE TODAY This year we are encouraging people who want to join a guided hike as part of the Chihuahuan Desert Fiesta to register in advance. The number of people per …
Chihuahuan Desert Sky Island, Mt Livermore
Mt. Livermore, Davis Mountains Preserve, Texas Looking into the desert, I see waves. Cresting. One folding on the other. A land shaped by an ancient sea transformed into an arid stretch of rolling hills and mountains. Fed only by monsoon summers and dry winters. I row through this ocean of cactus and creosote to find …
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Desert thru Hiking: Texas to New Mexico
Organ Mountains National Monument, Las Cruces, New Mexico – Sierra Vista Trail There’s a wind coming off Las Cruces, I tip my head just enough. The trail is easy, a combination of gravel and loose rock. Arroyo crossings surrounded by prickly pear, fishhook cactus, lechuguilla and ocotillo in bloom. Dry desert grass dancing in the …
Plans underway for third Chihuahuan Desert Conference
The El Paso Zoo and Botanical Gardens and the Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition are working on plans to host a third Chihuahuan Desert Conference in El Paso in November of 2023. The conference will bring together researchers and conservation advocates from across the Chihuahuan Desert to help facilitate collaboration in the region and learn of …
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Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, Las Cruces, New Mexico – Baylor Pass
It’s a hard drive across west Texas with the sun in my eyes. Visor permanently down. One hundred miles straight shot, no services. Moving across the flats of far west Texas toward El Paso, cell coverage drops and I’m counting the miles to what I hope will bring gas in the next forty. Air conditioning …
Guadalupe Ridge Trail via Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Connecting Texas and New Mexico Riding tonight I sense a change in hoofbeats as my horse moves through the desert. A hollowness unfelt before. As I contemplate the consistency of his steps, a barn owl rises from a jagged hole of white strata. Layer on layer of rock descending into the earth. Soaring to the …
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Plate Tectonics in The Solitario, Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas
Spring comes early to the Rio Grande. Bluebonnets sprinkling the road, framing my view into Mexico. Cliffs high along the river. Rows of chopped rocks run like balcony seats at an opera across their face. I stop to take a picture, there are so many pictures here. My dog watches through the window and my …
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Homer Wilson Ranch, Chihuahuan Desert, Big Bend National Park, Texas
There is no straight line through the desert. What looks easy is hard. 'Barranco' after 'barranco', all hidden from the horizon. Impassible terrain. Snaking a path is the only way. Driving into Big Bend National Park, shades of purple compete with mounds of desert brush. Each clamoring for the win. Key notes of Freddy Fender …
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas
The multiple faces of our Chihuahuan Desert: Sky Island, fossil reef, and four of the highest peaks in Texas Driving Highway 652 west across Texas the horizon becomes a wall and it’s not hard to imagine what the first settlers must have thought as they crested these hills in horse-drawn wagons, seeing such a roadblock …
Discover Black Gap WMA, Texas
I’m happiest when I spend my nights around campfires. Hidden in the spotted hills of the desert. In complete control, and complete surrender. Crossing Maravillas Creek south of Marathon, and approaching Double Mills, the ranches exceed imagination. Temperature rises fifteen degrees as we descend in elevation. A welcome change to this January weather. With arm …
Chihuahuan Desert Education Coalition 