I woke up early this morning, packed up the car, and hit the road. I would be headed for El Paso, Texas and the wonderful urban oasis of the Franklin Mountains. The drive was a long one. I saw a few pronghorn along the way, but not a whole lot else. Soon I was into the sprawl of east El Paso, with its countless auto salvage yards, taco joints, and strip clubs. The mountains beckoned though. I soon found myself in McKelligon Canyon and the trail-head for the Ron Coleman Trail. I paid my entrance fee and hit the trail.
The trail made its way past two small caves; they are in actuality rock shelters.
It was a pretty steep climb up to the ridge and there were lots of braided user trails that made route-finding a bit challenging. Soon I had some great views of some of the higher portions of the Franklins. Eventually I ran into a large group dressed in red. It turns out that they were from El Paso Search and Rescue.
Were they running a drill or was there a real search in progress? Shortly after passing the SAR team, the trail got really interesting.
The views got even better and the trail climbed some steep cliffs using chains bolted into the rock.
There was an excellent view from the Window.
As I moved further up the mountain there were far reaching views into west El Paso
and my objective for the hike, the tower-covered summit of South Franklin Peak was getting closer.
Soon the Ron Coleman Trail would bypass the summit of South Franklin Peak. Since my objective was to summit the mighty peak, I set off sans trail and followed a lightly-used social trail to the fenced-in summit. I admired the view for a bit and then retraced my steps back to McKelligon Canyon and my car.
Eric, that is a great trail! I climbed that side last October and was a bit razzled by the chains :) I hiked on Monday to the summit via the north side (Smuggler's Pass) and saw vehicles for search and rescue. Our paths might have almost crossed! Happy trails!
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