With the great odometer change from 1999 to 2000 imminent, I decided I wanted to do something unique. I didn't want to stay home, watch South Park episodes and crash early like I do on some New Years Eves, and I surely didn't want to waste this supposedly significant New Years Eve at some lame party. Instead, I opted to find me a small honky-tonk bar in the middle of West Texas and spend it there! The idea grew into a week-long trip and I planned some visites to some peaks, with Big Bend National Park as my official destination.

I left Phoenix on the 30th of December, and after 5 hours on Interstate-10, arrived in El Paso in the mid-afternoon. It was too late in the day to hike North Franklin Mountain, so I stayed at a Motel-8 in the town of Anthony, just inside the Texas-New Mexico State Line (exit 0). The Franklin Mountains neatly separate El Paso into two halves, the east side and the west side, with downtown being south of where the mountains end. The next day, I drove to the trailhead (open from 8-5 everyday) in the Franklin Mountains Preserve on the west side of the range along Loop-375 (I-10 exit 6). The day was cloudy but I could see clear sky off in the distance so I figured the clouds would blow away soon, which they did.

The hike startes along an old road which is closed to vehicles, enters a canyon, and makes two very long switchbacks up very old roads that have long since degenerated into footpaths. After about 2 miles and 1,000 feet of gain, I arrived at Mundy's Gap along the main ridge. The trail drops slightly on the other side, then junctions and begins a steady climb to the summit. At this time, the trail is a jeep track that does appear to get some use now and then. There is no forest cover and the views are expansive. As I was hiking up these roads, I had the pleasure to watch two buck deer lock antlers and fight for a few minutes. They didn't see me. Eventually they split and ran off, and I resumed my hike. I arrived at the summit after 2 hours on the trail. There was snow on the ground, although quickly melting in the 50-degree weather.

The summit has been graded flat. A little solar-powered something-or-other sits atop the summit. It was breezy so I sat on the lee-side of this metallic thingymajob and ate my lunch and looked out over El Paso, parts of Mexico to the south and west, the Organ Mountains to the north, and miles of desert to the east. Beautiful views. After a half-hour, I headed down and was back to my truck exactly four hours after having started the hike. This is a very nice hike up a desert peak, although the road cut into the side of the mountain is rather unattractive. I exited El Paso via the Fort Bliss Army Reservation, met up with Interstate-10 and drove a few hours to the town of Alpine, about 230 miles Southeast of El Paso. For New Year's Eve 1999, I went to a neat blues bar called the Railroad Blues and listened to some good Tex-Mex music by Joe King Carrasco and the Crowns. The next day: Brewster County & Big Bend National Park.