Wednesday June 12^th

Morning came and we had our own breakfast and started for a hike down Devil’s Hall Canyon.  We looked at the trail head of Guadalupe Peak and cried “calf.”  No way could this old girl do it.   Sent Richey Plemper a message to apologize for not being “Wonder Woman.”   Unhooked and headed for Hueco Tanks State Park ~ nearly to El Paso.

Checked in, Got campsite with water and electric.  So excited.  Air conditioner did not cool.  Paulette text Larry and we now have an appointment to have the capacitor replaced. 

When night came we were still at 99 degrees in the Casita.  We had the fan blowing, max air going and windows wide open waiting for the sun to disappear and bring the cool.  It may have gotten to 70 sometime in the middle of the night but every time I awoke the spot under me was an oven.

Up early for packing up the trailer and going on the hiking tour we had scheduled earlier on Wednesday.  Decided to take a self-guided walk and were almost late for the tour.  Wow, we had an enjoyable and informative guide.  The others on the trip were Amos, Sherry, Caleb, and Ethan Wolf of Austin.  The little boys were fun and very smart.  Mr. Ed took us to unusual places and explained the geology, Native American Influence, and many historical facts of this area.  At one place we had to get on our backs and scoot under the ceiling to observe the pictographs left by the Apaches and Mogollons centuries ago.  We were able to get good photographs.  Ed had names of his own for many of the rock formations ~ Turtle, Dog, Mushroom, Bridge.  Thinking I had not understood the Huecos(pronounced Waco as the town or Indian tribe,) I was correct in my assumption of the use of the small holes for grinding and the places where the water pooled.  Hueco means “hollow.”  The Huecos are also larger pools of water which are more like a small pond.  Ed showed the group a hueco that had never been dry until the last drought.  Since there was a rain last week he was wondering if it would have water and it had about 1 foot.