Spring Begins with the Poppy Fest

Click image to enlarge.

Dear Friends:

 

Poppies Fest this Saturday, April 1 – Make Plans to Attend! – Free Parking & Shuttle at Cohen Stadium

 

Poppy Fest 2017 Returns to El Paso - 11th annual event held at El Paso Museum of Archaeology

 

The El Paso Museum of Archaeology and the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition invite the public to the annual Poppy Fest from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 1, at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology.

 

Spring in the Franklin Mountains means the desert landscape is blanketed by a field of golden yellow Mexican poppies and the free 11th annual event celebrates El Paso's annual bloom. Enjoy live music, art vendors, educational exhibits, children's activities, nature tours, food vendors, and more!

 

The Museum of Archaeology will host live archery demonstrations, and Houdini, the hawk from the El Paso Zoo, and a live wolf from the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary near Albuquerque will also be at the festival. The museum features 14,000 years of prehistory in El Paso, the greater Southwest, and northern Mexico.

 

"The Poppy Fest provides the community with opportunities to learn about conservation and our environment while taking advantage of the natural beauty of El Paso's Franklin Mountains," said Director of the El Paso Museum of Archaeology, Jeff Romney.

 

In addition, the Downtown Art and Farmers Market will move to the museum grounds for the Poppy Festival. The Anthony Street location will be closed so market vendors can participate in the Poppy Fest.

 

Free parking for the Poppy Fest will be at Cohen Stadium and shuttle buses will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

 

The Poppy Fest is presented by the El Paso Museum of Archaeology in partnership with the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition, National Border Patrol Museum, and Downtown Artist and Farmers Market.

 

For more information on the Poppy Fest, call the El Paso Museum of Archaeology at (915) 755-4332 or visit http://archaeology.elpasotexas.gov/.

 

Cheers,

Marilyn Guida

RAB Meeting Gives Opportunity to Support Preservation of Casner Range

Click on image to enlarge.

Elpasonaturally has focused primarily on the preservation of land in the Scenic Transmountain Corridor on the west side of the Franklins. The effort to preserve Castner Range on the east side has been going on for a much longer period of time. It involves cleaning up unexploded ordnance since the Range which is still property of the U.S. Army was used for many years for artillery practice. Once that "cleaning up" has occurred, then the land could be transferred to the State Park and preserved in its natural state. Cleaning it up is ongoing. Transferring is still not a done deal. That is why it is so important for all of us who want to see our natural treasures preserved begin to be seen by the Fort Bliss Restoration Advisory Board. Enlarge the image above for more information about their next meeting in Chaparral, NM. (Map)


Here is a publication by the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition which is valuable reading. Along with information and background about the Range, it states the reasons for preserving Castner in its natural state:
Castner Range Educational Flier

Castner Range is the area where the Mexican Poppies have become prolific. I even saw poppies grow on Knapp property just south of the range on the other side of Hondo Pass. Some plants have now been found on the west side of the mountain. Here are three pics from this year's Poppy Fest which is held at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology which is surrounded by Castner Range:

Bullwinkle Formation in background

 Maggie, Phaedra & Finn Moses

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!