Is this really the Chihuahuan DESERT?

Recently the El Paso Zoo Education team and a few volunteers embarked on a journey to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park located about two hours east of El Paso.  Our trip to McKittrick Canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains was a first time for most of us and one that we hoped would encourage our enthusiasm for the Chihuahuan Desert. While giving educational programs on zoo grounds we often encourage people to "continue your adventure".  People can easily visit the zoo by car or bus and it is located in the center of El Paso.  El Paso has a population of about 800,000 people and some still don't know the El Paso Zoo exists and the incredible amount of educational entertainment available to them at the zoo and beyond.  Everyone should continue your adventure and get out and explore! 

With over 80 miles of trails the park is known as a secret hikers paradise.  From the highway the famous El Capitan steep cliff face jets out mystifying drivers passing by.  There are no roads through the park so hiking in is the best way to experience all that the park has to offer.  The area is a hot bed for geologists who come to study the marine fossil reef that was formed about 265 million years ago.  What is left behind is now an oasis in the desert. 

We took about a 5 mile round trip hike up into McKittrick Canyon tucked in the middle of 2,000 foot high limestone walls.  Along the way our Education Curator who has spent many years at several parks as a naturalist pointed out local flora and fauna.  In a short day hike we experienced so much of what the Chihuahuan desert has to offer.  Many think the desert is barren, I think not!

Our group being led by the El Paso Zoo Education Curator.

 These trees are beautiful.  Texas Madrone.

The Texas Madrone tree is native to the southwestern US and farther south into Mexico and Central America.  In the fall the berries provide an essential food for wildlife.  The bark of this evergreen tree is smooth and reddish in color referred to in the local names of naked Indian and lady's legs. 

 Two of the El Paso Zoo's volunteers, Ruby and Sara, petting a Texas Madrone. 

 Water!  There is a spring fed creek that carved the canyon and continues to do so today. 

We even found life in the river with several species of water striders and snails.  Farther up the creek there are introduced fish. 

 Rainbow trout is my best guess.  I should have had my ichthyology notes with me!

 A once in the plant's lifetime view of this beautiful plant. 

There are over 200 species of agave plants.  The Lechugilla (Agave lechugilla) is an indicator species of the Chihuahuan Desert.  The two common species of agave found in the Guadalupe Mountains are the lechugilla and the century plant agave (Agave americana).  What is so unique about the agave plants is that they are perennial plants that can live 10 to 30 years but each plant only grows one stalk and flowers once in its lifetime and then dies.  It takes the entire life of the plant for it to collect enough energy to be able to produce the center stalk and flowers.  The plants in this area are very important for native people but now their use is being extended beyond the region.  Agave syrup can now be found throughout stores nationwide and is a sweetening syrup made from agave.  Agave syrup is recommended for people that have diabetes because it is high in fructose.  A sweet liquid gathers in the center of the plant called "honey water" and from the fermentation of this liquid locals make a liquor beverage called Pulque.  There are Pulquerias, little bars in Mexico, that serve home made pulque that is said to have an effect beyond just liquor. 

 Many different insects were smothering these flowers.

 An entire view of the agave.

 I found a Texas Tan Tarantula on the trail!  

Tarantula bites are like a very bad bee sting and are painful but what is most dangerous is that they can shoot microscopic hairs at you.  So don't pick them up!  Usually the ones you see out on the move are males looking for females to breed.

 Heather gave him a bit of water for his journey.  

 

A beautiful sotol plant.

Sotol is another plant important for native people.  It was used as building material, clothing material such as sandals and food (the center can be eaten).  Sotol juice from the plant can also be fermented into a liquor. 

A bottle of sotol.  A fellow Education Specialist, Antonia had some made by her Uncle!

 Later on down the trail we saw a Tarantula Hawk! 

 Big toothed Maple trees starting to show their fall colors. 

Why do leaves change colors?
Photosynthesis is the process plants go through to produce their own food and chlorophyll (what makes leaves that green color) is responsible for photosynthesis.  Therefore chlorophyll is extremely important to the plant.  To grow and photosynthesize plants need water, sunlight and nutrients in the soil.  The water is held in the leaves held high looking for sunlight.  If you think about how thin a leaf is, very thin, it would be very easy to freeze in cool temperatures.  Just like the areas that get coldest on your body (your extremities), the trees leaves are most susceptible to freezing.  If the leaves freeze and die the tree loses that water and chlorophyll in the leaves. Therefore, in preparation for cold winter temperatures that could freeze their leaves, trees suck in their very important chlorophyll into their trunks.  The other colors (red, orange, yellow), those are chemicals that are always present in the leaves but because of the green chlorophyll are not visible until the chlorophyll is sucked back into the trunk.

 The leaves and area is beautiful! 

 A group picture amongst amazing colors.

 

 A sotol plant in the midst of Ponderosa pines and maples!  A crazy mix of biodiversity not found in many areas.

A group picture in the dry creek bed.

The Guadalupe Mountains have hiking trails for all different levels.  Only two hours outside of El Paso people can experience the beauty and solitude of nature.  Plan a trip.  Don't forget to bring lots of water and snacks for the trails.  There are also camp sites available.  Check out the website for more details - click here.

Guadalupe Mountains also has the highest peak in Texas at 8,751 feet.  Expect a blog sometime about the trek to the top because David and I are going to do it!  


Continue your adventure!

My special buddy.

I recently lost a very special buddy of mine.  His name is Rocky and he was by far one of the best horses ever.

Rocky was obviously abused by a previous owner and when my mom first got him he was reluctant to get to know us.  We hung out a lot when I first moved to Texas for graduate school and slowly Rocky opened up.  Animals are incredible.  They can overcome anything thrown at them.  I am so happy that he was able to experience a fantastic last couple of years.  My mom provides her horses with five star luxury treatment and Rocky enjoyed every bit of it.

I am not a great rider, just a casual rider, but with Rocky it was easy, he did all the work.  In time we both trusted each other and basically I just let him do his thing.  He took care of me and I was just along for the ride. I trusted him so much that I often just let go of the reins, even when galloping through fields.  So much fun! 

Usually Rocky is a relaxed horse, but get him in a horse arena and wooooaaahh!  The first time I entered into the arena with Rocky I was complety thrown off guard.  He had the ability to bulk up and become a super horse and really I just got in his way.  He had obviously barrel raced in the past and I had obviously not.  I just held on and he did all the steering.  As soon as we exited the arena, back to the relaxed, chill horse I knew. 

His passing has reminded me to live your life.  Take the time out of our everyday busy lives to enjoy what we have.  And you know what - do what you want to do!  And cherish those who support what you do.  I wish I had more time with Rocky but he has left a huge footprint on my heart. 

Here are some fabulous pictures to describe some of our adventures. 

 This is how we were both happiest.  Bare back riding doing whatever we wanted.

 So handsome.  Enjoying Palo Senya.

 Someone is falling asleep. Always willing to let me do whatever.

 I jumped all over him and he did not care.

 

Ok so I let him eat a lot of grass when I rode.  Woopsie!

 Getting a bath after a ride in Palo Duro Canyon.

And he took care of everyone that got on him.

The next group of pictures came after my mom and I watched a Tommy Turvey horse demonstration which included Roman riding.  We (mainly I) were determined to give it a try but soon after giving it a go, we realized we needed to train the horses first to move as a unit.  The following pictures are just a few pictures of our escapades.  Take a look at Rocky in all of the pictures.  Amazing.  He is physically trying to stay underneath me and Apache (the paint horse) is running away the entire time.  Hilarious!

Apache, obviously freaked out and Rocky is probably thinking, what is crazy Naima doing now?

Rocky looks like he is saying, "STAY CLOSE TO ME APACHE"!

Look at the placement of Rocky's legs. :)

My two buds.  Miss Beaker is a bit scared!

I miss Rocky already and I wish we had hung out more recently.  Thanks mom for bringing him into my life and taking the best care of him!

Live your Life.

Hueco Tanks. The stories and more.

Well we finally made it to Hueco Tanks, a Texas State Park located about 30 miles away from El Paso.  It is about an hour from our house through a sketchy part of town but once you get outside the city, the desert is beautiful.  Once you enter the wild area there is a huge discouraging quarry that is eating away at what little resources the desert offers.  The company is harvesting cement materials but a lot of it is being swept away by the wind. 

Travel farther down the road and you start to notice the random rocks that make up Hueco Tanks.  Hueco means "hollow" and tanks refers to water storage.  What happened in this area is magma heated up and rose to the surface.  The magma did not erupt into liquid but instead rose up and then retreated back into the Earth.  The gases that were left over crept up out of the magma over time and created air pockets that stayed behind in the rocks. The limestone was eroded away and now a granite "like" rock with several characteristic huecos is left.  When you enter the park you must pay a small fee ($5) and watch a video to understand the importance of not altering the park.

The area has many pictographs dating back thousands of years ago to archaic hunter gatherers to Indian cultures.  Hueco Tanks was a very important stopping ground for water for travelers moving across the arid desert.  Even in drought periods there are areas in the park that would still have potable water.  We visited one of those sites! 

We took a pictograph tour at the park that lasted about four hours, although it is only supposed to last two.  Every time the guide asked if we wanted to take a small side trip to extend we eagerly said YES even when the other group members dropped out!  The tour was worth well beyond the $1 we paid for it.  Our volunteer guide Joe, led the small group of eight to places we would have never found and pointed out pictographs we would had never noticed or understood. 

The one disappointment was... I recently broke my camera.  So I did the best I could with my extremely old iphone but you get the idea.  Here are some pics:

Most of the park is open only to guided tours.  But the North Mountain, which encompasses a large area is open to 70 guests per day and you can hike, climb, picnic or just enjoy.  About 75% or North Mountain is self guided, the rest is guide only.

 This insect was everywhere!  So many of them, I had an insect field guide with me but still could not find it.  Looked it up when I got home and it is in the Genus Megetra and is a Blister Beetle. Read more about their toxins and what the Navajo called them here.

 

David is getting after it.  I chose to just enjoy the sunshine!

Hueco Tanks is an international Mecca for climbing.  The park has to monitor the number of climbers that enter daily to make sure areas are not being over used.  Climbers are not allowed to use ropes and no alterations to the rocks can be made.  But for bouldering (low climbing without a rope) no roped are needed.  Climbers use chalk to keep sweat off their hands to allow for a better grip to the rock.  We met a couple from Holland that was there to climb.  Joe, our group leader said the park will be packed with climbers from November to March from all over the world that camp for extended times so good luck getting in then!  Sad, because I want to make Hueco Tanks a habit for us. 

 

On my random side venture I stumbled across water.  Shocking to me in the desert. 

 A ceremonial mask.  Throughout the park there are several ceremonial masks and one area that is full of them.  Joe gave us directions and hopefully I remember them next time!

 Lots of these huge huge Horse Lobbers too!  Beautiful.

Our guide, Joe, holding a picture of the pictograph story you see behind him.  

This pictograph tells the story of a battle between the Indians and Mexican Soldiers involving "El Paso".  It even depicts a horse being killed in the battle and falling in their water source.  As they ate parts of the horse and drank the water they became very sick.  They escaped the Mexican soldiers by climbing through a tight dark cave.  All of that on this little wall with a few pictographs.  Joe emphasized how pictographs are not graffitti like it may look like to us.  They had no written language and were trying to relay a story via drawings.  He would ask, could you tell all of your stories in short drawings?  Probably not. 

 

Loved that our group was small! 

 

Super dork apparel. 

 

This one is speculated to be done by a shaman that was asking the gods for rain over and over again without any success.   Next to it were several that were very similar done by future shamans of the group.

 These were some of my favorites! 

 Can you see the snake?  The snake's head usually is a landmark that they used to point to water.  This one points to one of the potable year round sources of water.  

There are also four wind dancers depicted several times in this picture.  Here is the story of the wind dancers as best I can remember Joe telling us: There were two members of a traveling group that were sick, one was old with sickness and the other had a broken leg.  The group new they would not make the journey so they left them behind but put them in an area where predators could not get them.  After days go by, the two men become delerious with no food and water and are met by four wind dancers that promise to help them get out and meet up back with their people.  In return they can not speak a word of who helped them.  No one knows who the wind dancers were but the two men were known to return to their group.  The proof is found in their signed names with the group later on after being left at Hueco Tanks alone.

 

Ever been to Speaking Rock?  It is an Indian preserve in south east El Paso.  Mostly known these days for having free concerts such as Korn come through.  But this is where the symbol they use comes from.  The symbol is actually a map they used to remember how to get home. The arrow through the middle is the Rio Grande. 

 Down below is where one of the few year round supplies of potable water lies.  The water was crystal clear!

This one is thought to be a Canadian goose. 

The last three pictures were taken in the same area.  An area you would never find without a guide.  Below is the picture of us squeezing up to see these pictographs. 

This one is awesome and the picture does not do it justice but you need the background info to bring out how cool it is.  The wall is facing East, so at the right time of year, when the sun rises this little guy actually looks like he is holding the sun up.  Below is a picture of where it is located on the wall.  On the very bottom.

 

A pictograph of one of the crops they grew.  Any guesses? 

My favorite is last.  At first I did not get it and the guide had to explain.  But once he did I loved it!  They are bighorn sheep looking over the horizon of the mountain.  It is evidence that bighorn sheep were in the area.  So cute!

The sad part about Hueco Tanks, is the amount of graffiti on the rocks and also on the pictographs.  It is amazing that people have destroyed areas in the past, but even more amazing that with all the precautions the park takes to avoid graffiti it is still happening today!  In the picture below you can see one of the walls that has pictographs and graffiti.  Joe had recently been there about a month ago and he noticed new graffiti that he reported back to headquarters.  They are using laser technology to try and remove some graffiti off of some of the sites. 

Joe mentioned, the fees you pay at the gate, go into helping to pay for laser removal.  Or that is what they say, but I know that when you go to a Texas State Park, the fees go back into a general fund that is distributed throughout the state in the park system.  So yes, maybe some of that money ends up back at Hueco Tanks but most is distributed.  Not to say that other parks are not worth while and need support as well.  But, maybe they should put out a donation bin for funds to directly benefit Hueco Tanks, that way the 200,000 people that visit the park each year can help preserve the direct area.

Graffiti.  Done in the right areas can be amazing.  Done in the wrong areas is a disgrace. 

So, here is a challenge: Pictograph your life!


Pictograph.