Finally, a cold front! Finally, the temps are down in the lower 80s! We should be happy and content about this turn of events, yes? Well… We are mostly. The only problem is the wind. A cold front cannot come through without some sort of atmospheric upheaval, and here in El Paso TX, we are experiencing it in the form of a dust storm.

This morning, I was on my way to an East Mountain tour with Paul, April and little Silas; Brian was ready to spend a day in El Paso getting new back tires put on the van. He reads on the world wide web that we are due for 50 mi/hr wind gusts. April and I think, there is no way the wind can be worse than the day before when we had to catch flying crash pads and huddle between small boulders while the wind whipped our hair around or heads.

But as the day wore on, despite much climbing and sending hoopla, the dusty haze dropped heavy over the mountains surrounding the park until we could only see their faint outline. We knew that we needed to come down to flat land. And we did. Running down crumbly slabs of granite, only pausing to stoop out of the way of of the high handed wind.

But we are safe. Wind and dirt cannot be compared to the tornadoes and flooding that the Southeast is experiencing tonight. We are staying out of the wind and dirt at a Microtel in the El Paso sprawl–I can hear it baying at the window just now, trying to find a way in. I had been hoping we could camp every night in our blissful site #8, the stars hanging over our pretty red pop-top, but it was not to be. Too much dirt and no rest in the wild wind drove us to this. Just for one night. Tomorrow though, we’ll be back there for one more night at Hueco Tanks. Then off to Tuscon AZ.

Happy trails!

Posted on April 26th, 2011