Reality Show and a Beginners Hike

Click on image to enlarge.

Okay male El Paso Hikers (Bicyclers, Mountain Bikers, Climbers, Etc.) here’s an opportunity to be part of a new competitive reality series. Janet Martinez, a Casting Assistant with Real People Casting, Inc., contacted moi (of course) to help get the word out about the casting that they are doing for a new series tentatively called Bounty.  Janet told me that “from now until June 15th, we will be conducting a nationwide search for men in their 20's and 30's, and I think El Paso Hiker could be a great resource to scout for our series. I was hoping you could help get the word out by forwarding this email to members of your organization. The grand prize for the winner of this competition will be $100,000!”  You can learn more here.

If you are interested, email your contact info and 2 recent photos of yourself to ocbountycasting@gmail.com or feel free to call 818-762-6199. This seems to be a legitimate offer but do your own due diligence before signing on any dotted line.

This has nothing to do with hiking, walking , birding or biking.  However, we all need to eat so why not eat fresh farm food.  It’s Farmers Market time again at Ardovino’s Desert Crossing. Opening day is tomorrow, May 26, 2012. The market will be open every Saturday morning from 7:30 a.m. until Noon through mid-October. You might consider taking an ice chest to keep food fresh while you eat brunch. It’s the best brunch menu this side of the Atlantic and just an easy drive across the mighty Rio Grande in a spot nestled on the other side of Mount Cristo Rey.

On Saturday, June 9^th, there will be a beginners hike at 7 a.m. We will do the Upper Sunset Trail at the Tom Mays Unit of the FMSP the easy way. Meet at the gate to the Park (map). We will take some cars to the parking lot at the end of the trail and ride together to the north end, top of the trail. This really is a beginners hike with a good trail, not a great elevation gain. It is only a 1.5 mile hike one-way in the easy direction. We will plan to do the Upper Sunset from south to north another time. But for now this is perfect for those of you who have been wanting a beginning hike on a weekend. Also, this will give us all time to get to Ardovino’s Farmers Market for a brunch or a breakfast burrito. Remember your canvas shopping bags for your vegetables, herbs, eggs and such.

Do check out the June schedule of hikes in the Franklin Mountains State Park.

Also see the upcoming hikes posted at El Paso Hiking Group including a cherry-picking hike to La Luz and Cloudcroft tomorrow morning and an evening sunset on the ridge hike this coming Wednesday led by veteran hiker, Karl Putnam.

The Las Cruces hiking meet-up group are planning an excursion to Baylor Pass and possibly a moonlight hike at White Sands – both on June 3.

Finally, if you use a smart phone, check out some geocaching apps. They’re a good way to get started and will work around our area. The only downside is that they won’t work in areas where you can’t get phone service. Mountain Bikers can now do a geocache virtual race. Check it out at GeoBetty.  Another great app for Androids is Google Sky Map. If you are ever out at night and want to know what you are seeing in the night sky, this is a great app. I’m not sure that it will identify ET but it can tell you that you are looking at Venus or Jupiter, Regulus, Vega or Arcturus and name the constellations.

El Paso Hikers Letter: Hike Rodinia!

GPS of our exploratory hike up a Mountain Park arroyo last Thursday. Click image to enlarge. GPS tracking by Judy Ackerman

Many of you probably read this short article online: Piece of crust stolen from Texas found in Antarctica. Portions of that billion year old plus rift include the red bluff granite and Thunderbird formation on both sides of the Franklins. B-24 Crash Historian and avid hiker, Karl Putnam, has scheduled a return hike up the Red Rock Canyon. His hike will be exploratory and is described as strenuous. (Karl has been known to take off for the ridge wherever he may be in the Franklins.) In conjunction with that hike, another group will do a more moderate hike and climb up the gradually ascending red bluff granite canyon. Whichever hike you do, both begin together at 7:30 a.m. this Thursday, March 28^th. The meeting place is near the residence at 2501 Memphis.  And, no matter which hike you take, you will be going back in time about 1.126 billion years and see “pieces” of the super-continent, Rodinia.  Not bad for a couple of hours of hiking!

Check out and bookmark the El Paso Ridgewalkers.  Also join the  El Paso Hiking Meet-up and the Las Cruces Hiking Meet-up for schedules of hikes and for tie-ins to other great meet-up sites.  A new meet-up group has formed that you may want to check out and join: the Guadalupe Mountains National Park Meetup Group. Another geocache hike is planned for this Saturday with meet-up at 7:45 a.m. to carpool to the Switchback Loop Trail in the Sacramentos. Get info about this moderate to difficult 4.5 mile hike here. A geocache webinar is scheduled for this Thursday, March 29^th, from 7 to 8 p.m. Register online.

Also on Saturday is the Annual Poppy Fest at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology. See the full schedule of events. Parking with shuttle service will be at 9570 Gateway Blvd. North, the EPCC Northeast campus. (Map)

Know that Turner Classic Movies will be showing Take the High Ground on March 28^th. Be sure to check for times. This is the 1953 movie that was shot on Ft. Bliss with our mountains (roughly above Diana to Transmountain) as a backdrop. (See two clips here.)

Excelsior!

El Paso Hikers Letter: Exploratory Hike Tomorrow

Remember: the Mountain Park North Exploratory Hike is tomorrow. The hike will begin near 2780 Gunnison Drive in Mountain Park on the east side of the mountains. (Map) Expect an easy to moderate hike for two hours beginning at 7:30 a.m. The temperature will be a delightful 53° with just a wisp of a breeze at 2 mph ENE.  Sunrise begins at 7:15 a.m.  In short, a perfect morning for a hike. This will be a good hike to see some good geological formations, the old Knapp quarries, and some fossils besides just having a great time.  Trail Master sui generis, Tom Robinson, will be our hike leader.

On Saturday, March 17^th, do a ridge hike in the Organ Mountains from Bar Canyon to Achenback Canyon. The hike is difficult and will be mostly off trail with an elevation gain of 1,000 feet or so. The distance overall is 6 to 8 miles so expect a 6 to 7 hour adventure. Meet at 7 a.m. at the customary Shell Station/Dairy Queen at I-10 and Transmountain. There’s no fee but, if you carpool, do help with the cost of fuel.  Carol Brown is the hike leader and you can contact her at 915-630-1424. Bring plenty of water, snacks, a sack lunch and wear sturdy hiking shoes and check the weather beforehand and wear appropriate clothing. The alternative meeting place is the Bar/Soledad Canyon parking lot.

On Sunday do a geocache hike at Dripping Springs. Check out details.  Learn more about geocaching and register at geocache.com.

If mountain biking is your thing, do a 15 mile virtual race with your GPS. This race is brought to you by our friends at GeoBetty.

Scenic Drive is closed every Sunday morning from 7 to Noon. (6 to 11 a.m. beginning April 1.) It’s a 4.1 mile hike from one side to the other. This walk takes in a dazzling panorama of El Paso and Juarez and a display of 500 million year old fossils! It’s a good recreational walk and can be done in an hour and a half.

Know that Turner Classic Movies will be showing Take the High Ground on March 28^th. Be sure to check for times. This is the 1953 movie that was shot on Ft. Bliss with our mountains (roughly above Diana to Transmountain) as a backdrop. (See two clips here.)

Finally, Bob Medley (who prefers the title “Web Slave” over “Web Master”) sends out a terrific e-letter with information about hikes and much more. You can see the current letter and, if you aren’t doing so already, subscribe here. Check out and bookmark the El Paso Ridgewalkers.  Also join the  El Paso Hiking Meet-up and the Las Cruces Hiking Meet-up for schedules of hikes and for tie-ins to other great meet-up sites.

Excelsior!

El Paso Hikers Letter: New Exploratory Hike

Hike to Aztec Cave. Click to enlarge image.

You can now see the Franklin Mountains State Park March Hiking Schedule.  Ladies, take note of the Women’s Only First Time Hike on March 22^nd.

Carol Brown is leading a hike this Saturday, March 10, to Aztec Cave, then to the ridge above the caves, to Mundy’s Gap and over to East Cottonwood Springs and back. There is an elevation gain of a 1,000 feet and the round trip distance is 5 miles. Therefore this is rated a moderate to difficult hike although the hike to Aztec Cave and then above it to the ridge is about the most difficult part. It’s a beautiful hike and you will enjoy some spectacular views to the west and to the east of the mountains. Expect to be hiking about 5 hours. Bring plenty of water and snacks and wear sturdy hiking shoes. There is a $4 per person entrance fee into the Tom Mays Unit of the FMSP unless you have a Texas State Parks Pass or Bluebonnet Pass or mention that you are with the El Paso Ridgewalkers or El Paso Hikers and get in for the $1 per person group rate.  Meet at the Aztec Cave parking area beginning at 8 a.m. Hike will begin promptly at 8:20 a.m. For more information, call Carol at 915-630-1424. This hike is posted online at the El Paso Hiking Group site.

If you want to do some birding on Saturday, then join the Audubon Society for an easy to moderate hike and birding at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, McKittrick Canyon and Frijole Ranch.  Meet at 7:00 a.m. in front of Evergreen Cemetery, 12400 E. Montana, 1/4 mile east of Loop 375. (Map)  Car pool from there.  Bring water, lunch, hiking shoes and binoculars.  There is a nominal entrance fee to get into the Park.  If you have a National Parks Pass, please bring it.  Nonmembers and beginners are always welcome.  Contact Mark Perkins at 637-3521 or mperkins4@elp.rr.com for more information.

Next Thursday, the El Paso Hikers will do an exploratory hike from the Mountain Park area north. The hike will begin near 2780 Gunnison Drive in Mountain Park on the east side of the mountains. (Map) Expect an easy to moderate hike for two hours beginning at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time.  Yes, folks  this Saturday night before we all go to sleep we will set our clocks one hour ahead.  Time springs forward as they say.  So on the 15^th sunrise begins at 7:15 a.m. (Civil twilight begins at 6:51 a.m.) This will be a good hike to see some good geological formations, old Knapp quarries, and some fossils besides just having a great time.  The incomparable Trail Master himself, Tom Robinson, will guide us.

The magnitude 2.5 earthquake that struck East El Paso this past Monday night generated some attention.  UTEP Dean and Professor of Geology, Diane Doser, is a seismologist and you can replay her live chat on the subject with the El Paso Times.

Do keep in mind that Scenic Drive is closed every Sunday morning from 7 to Noon. (6 to 11 a.m. beginning April 1.) It’s a 4.1 mile hike from one side to the other. This walk takes in a dazzling panorama of El Paso and Juarez and a display of 500 million year old fossils! It’s a good recreational walk and can be done in an hour and a half. A friend and I usually walk it from the east side (Richmond and Kentucky) beginning at 7 a.m. Email me and say you will join us.

Finally, know that Turner Classic Movies will be showing Take the High Ground on March 28^th. Be sure to check for times. This is the 1953 movie that was shot on Ft. Bliss with our mountains (roughly above Diana to Transmountain) as a backdrop. (See two clips here.)

Excelsior!