Into the Sunset

Hueco Tanks is a special magical place. Hueco was once the home of ancient Native Americans, who lived here seasonally for 10,000 years. They drank sweet rainwater from rock tanks, hunted game in nearby basins, ground seeds in the shade of caves, and had startling visions of animals, suns, snakes, spacemen, and masks, which the shamans painted on rock faces with thin yucca-fiber brushes. These rocky mountains were their sacred home and to some, like the Tigua Indians, it still is a place to be respected. As climbers we should visit Hueco Tanks with a respectful nature, appreciating the beauty of this ancestral home and having reverence for climbing on the sacred rocks. It’s a place to come in winter, away from the cold and snow, to summon your own powers and to have your own visions. And at the end of the day, your fingers trashed from a day of hard bouldering, you can find a high rocky bluff on the edge of North Mountain and sit and watch the sun sink slowly behind the Franklin Mountains above El Paso to the west.