This afternoon’s hike was absolutely wonderful. The temperature reached 90 degrees while I was walking down the trail and at the higher elevations there was a slight cool breeze. It was the perfect day for an afternoon hike. The chapel service I attend finished at 10:45, which gave me time to drive to the Franklin Mountains State Park, change, and eat a quick lunch before heading out on the trail at about 11:45.
The hike is about two miles up, or four miles round trip. Usually, it takes me about an hour to hike up and less than 45 minutes to hike down. The trail is steep in some places—steeper than I remembered. It has been about six months or so since I last was on that particular trail, so it seems that there have been some changes. Some of these changes have been repairs from wash outs during monsoon season (August-September). Some others, seem to have been scraping of the trail.
Along the trail, there are beautiful overlooks along the course that kept me motivated as I continued to climb. The higher I went on the trail, the more I saw of the West Side of El Paso. There was also the opportunity to see different types of rock features and canyons. It was not only a wonderful day for me to hike there were many other hikers along the trail so, while there were times of solitude, there were also times of saying hello to others as I passed or as the descended.
Upon reaching the top of the Mundy’s Gap trail (where it begins the North Mount Franklin Trail) there was the opportunity to rest a view the east side of El Paso and East Fort Bliss. It is a delightful reward for the climb.