Goodbye to Hueco Tanks

We are now ready to depart Hueco Tanks. During the past month, we have generally worked four hours per day, five days a week. One of our jobs here has included working in the interpretive center (orientation video included). Jerry provided a safety class for the staff and volunteers on rattlesnakes. We have gone on foot patrols to ensure that the climbers are obeqacrkikying the rules and are also safe. We have often worked in the office greeting new visitors, monitoring radio messages from the guides, answering myriad questions from telephone callers, and most important, made the morning coffee. There are many rules which help the park staff protect the historical nature of the park and ecosystem for future generations. Now that we are ready to leave, we know most of them.

Looking from the porch of the Escontrias House (home of the former ranch owners converted to an interpretive center) one can imagine the Butterfield Stage bouncing over rocks and through ruts to get to the Tanks with the Mescalaro Apaches in pursuit. “Hueco” means hollow and tanks, either natural or manmade, are places for water to gather. Thus Hueco Tanks was a valuable stop for travelers and native Americans. The stagecoach traveled from St. Louis through the West to San Francisco. The Escontrias family had a working ranch here with several thousand acres. A family member occupied the ranch house until 1954. In 1998 the Texas State Park Authority in conjunction with the Texas Historical Society instituted the present system of maintaining the park due to the vandalism, graffiti, and other abuse to the area. The new rules reduced many fatal rock climbing accidents in addition to protecting the historical artifacts.

We have met many interesting travelers, some from Fairfax County, VA and have enjoyed great hiking trails on sunny days. We stepped out of the trailer into three inches of snow one morning and have driven in drenching rain on our way back to camp from the eight mile drive to the mailbox. We have had no cell service, no internet availability, and few newspapers. TV is typically a wiggling, psychedelic design on a blue screen. On occasion we did get to see some news, and once in awhile we were able to watch Jay Leno at night. The scenic, historic grandeur of the area, however, compensates for the lack of modern technology. We have enjoyed a beautiful campsite that looks out on mountains from all sides. We have observed many interesting birds and foxes but missed seeing the resident mountain lion, rattlesnakes and javelina. All in all it has been a most interesting educational month. We depart believing that we have made a contribution to a unique and beautiful place. The photo at top left shows Gloria on patrol with one of the volunteer park guides. On this day Diana showed us some wonderful Native American rock art that we had not previously seen. Both of us were delighted to be out on the trail looking for violators rather than being stuck in the headquarters building.