Guided Hikes

Take your friends and family on a guided hike at the Wakeem/Teschner Nature Preserve at Resler Canyon this Sunday, June 24^th, at 8 a.m.  Meet where Cadiz Street dead ends at the Canyon. (Map) Take the Sunland Park exit, turn right onto Sunland Park, then left at Cadiz Street. Follow Cadiz all the way to the end. Although the hike will take an hour or a bit longer, take plenty of water, use sunscreen and wear a hat. You’ll learn about the plants and animals in this conserved natural arroyo. You also will learn how arroyos work. Your guide will be Scott Cutler, exhibits curator at UTEP’s Centennial Museum.  Scott also serves on the Board of the Frontera Land Alliance which manages the nature preserve.

Remember that Scenic Drive is closed every Sunday morning from 6 to 11 a.m.  It’s a 4.1 mile hike from one side to the other and back. 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. Join me at 7 a.m. this coming Sunday at the west entrance to the Drive (the intersection of Robinson, Rim and Scenic). Rumor has it that there will be some geology talk as we walk.

Peak Fitness Challenge is off the ground!  Check out great hikes and prizes.  Information and sign up is available at GeoBetty.com/Peak. Get more information and like Challenge on Facebook.  Do visit the blog, One Foot in Front of the Other.

Franklin Mountains State Park Ranger Extraordinaire Adrianna Weickhardt sent out word about some very special guided hikes that are by reservation only. Experts on various natural history subjects will accompany you. All guided hikes are $3.00 in addition to the park entrance fee of $5.00 for adults 13 & over. Guided hikes for ages 5-12 is $1.00.  Contact Adrianna Weickhardt at 915-566-6441 ext. 224 or email adrianna.weickhardt@tpwd.state.tx.us or Erika Rubio at 915-566-6441 ext. 221 or email erika.rubio@tpwd.state.tx.us.

JULY -- The guided hikes for July are as follows:

Saturday, July 7, 2012 @ 7:30 pm – Guided night hike Nature Walk/Explore the Arroyo (1 – 1.5 hours)

Sunday, July 8, 2012 @ 6:30 am – Guided hike Schaeffer Shuffle (1.5 - 2 hours)

Thursday, July 12 @ 9:00 a.m. – Nature Walk, 25 kids (7 – 12 year olds)  (1-2 hours)

Saturday, July 21, 2012 @ 7:30 pm – Guided night hike Nature Walk/Explore the Arroyo (1 – 1.5 hours)

Sunday, July 22, 2012 @ 6:30 Ron Coleman/Smugglers Pass (1.5 – 3 hours)

Friday, July 27, 2012 @ 6:15 am – (Women’s Only Hike) Lower Sunset Trail (1.5 – 2 hours)

Sunday, July 29 - @ 6:30 am (Peak Fitness Challenge Hike) Aztec Caves (1 – 2 hours)

We also have the hikes continuing through the rest of the month of June:

Friday, June 22, 2012 – Lazy Cow Trail @ 8:00 a.m.  and again @ 5:00 p.m.

Saturday, June 23, 2012 – Lazy Cow Trail @ 8:00 a.m.  and again @ 5:00 p.m.

Sunday, June 24, 2012 – Mine Shaft Tour @ 8:00 a.m.

Thursday, June 28, 2012 – Women’s Hike on Upper Sunset Trail @ 8:00 a.m.

Excelsior!

October 1 at Keystone Don't Miss It

Click to enlarge.

Map to Keystone Heritage Park

Take a Lesson from Hunt Communities Marketing of Resler Ridge

Bird of paradise and yucca are in bloom now in Resler Canyon

Several of us hiked through Resler Canyon this morning. Scott Cutler, the manager of the Wakeem Teschner Nature Preserve, guided us. (Scott is also the Curator of Exhibits and Events at UTEP's Centennial Museum and the President of the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition.) We saw Swifts, Quail, Mockingbirds and Pyrrhuloxia. Yucca, Western Bird of Paradise, White Thorn Acacia and Palo Verde were in full bloom.

Of course, it would not have been so beautiful if several years ago Hunt had succeeded in their plans to develop the canyon. That effort met resistance from the likes of Charlie Wakeem and his neighbors who really began the present day efforts to conserve open space in and around El Paso. Thanks to the generosity of UTEP renowned linguist and UTEP professor (now retired), Richard Teschner, Resler was purchased from Hunt Communities.

Since then, Hunt has developed an area on the north rim of the canyon, known as Resler Ridge. They now market that development as "an open, 45-lot residential community situated on a stately southwestern desert ridge. It overlooks more than 12 acres of gently sloping hillsides and a naturally-preserved arroyo, with the upper Rio Grande valley in the distance." [Emphases mine.]

Hunt now employs scenes of open space and concepts such as sustainability and smart growth as part of their advertising. Indeed they should. Natural open space adds to the value of neighborhoods and homes.

Now if only the owners and developers of Enchanted Hills and Desert Springs north of Transmountain would get the message! Indeed, it seems that some are already. Stanley Jobe preserved Arroyo 41A in his neck of the woods. How about preserving that arroyo as it goes downstream and other natural arroyos as they flow from the beautiful Franklin Mountains.

41A need not be radically reduced and dalloed as City engineers claim. The channel as it passes under the freeway was designed by TxDOT to manage much more flow. Retention pond or more homes and a preserved arroyo? Take a lesson from Hunt. Add value to homes that overlook "gently sloping hillsides and a naturally-preserved arroyo. . . "

Help Keep Wakeem Teschner Nature Preserve Beautiful

This Saturday is the Great American Clean-up sponsored by the City of El Paso and Keep El Paso Beautiful. One good way to observe the day is to come out and help clean-up the Wakeem Teschner Nature Preserve in Resler Canyon beginning at 7 a.m. on Saturday the 17th.

Mike Gaglio, President of the Frontera Land Alliance, sent out this invitation:

Please join The Frontera Land Alliance and the Loretto Green Team this Saturday, October 17 from 7am to 11am for a clean up of the Wakeem Teschner Nature Preserve in Resler Canyon. This event is being coordinated as an El Paso Pride Day event in collaboration with Keep El Paso Beautiful.

As usual, we will set up in the Currey Adkins Parking lot at the end of Alto Mesa. Click here for a map.

We will bring tools, bags, water and a little bit of shade. Please bring your own gloves, hat, and sunscreen (or maybe a jacket).

If you have questions, you can call Scott Cutler at 747-6668 or 581-6071 through
Thursday evening. After that, please call Mike Gaglio at 490-8601.

Please feel free to pass on this information to friends.

See you there!
-Mike