Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site

The park has gone through considerable changes during private and public ownership. The inscribed names of Texas Rangers and US Cavalrymen, as well as Native American artifacts and paintings, attest to its historic nature. This site had originally attracted people due to its critical resource needed to survive life in the desert-water. The huge rocks and boulders have cracks and are pocketed with holes-huecos that trap and hold rainwater for months at a time. Passing people found this out and had made it known for future travelers by encrypting the walls with pictures and symbols on the rocks. Early inhabitants Human habitation of the area dates back 10,000 years with the arrival of the Desert Archaic Culture. These people would have eaten mesquite beans, banana yucca and cactus fruits in Hueco Tanks. The region was inhabited by various peoples, from the Paleo-Indians who used Folsom points to hunt the Megafauna of North America, to the people of the 'Jornada Mogollon' (pronounced mo-goi-YONE). This site was once a Jornada Mogollon village, according to an archaeological dig of the ground between North Mountain and West Mountain. By about 700 years ago, the population of the village could no longer be sustained by the small agricultural area surrounding Hueco Tanks. At this point, a population shift occurred and settlements were formed on the nearby playas to the south, west, and northwest. There, they flourished until about 1450 A.D. when the area suffered from a series of severe droughts. Although it took time, by about 1600 A.D. the region was inhabited by the Apache people, who moved in from Canada (see the Athabascans). Agriculture was introduced in the area sometime around 1000 A.D. and along with it, the development of the Jornada Mogollon Culture. Later the area was occupied by Mescalero and Lipan Apaches and Jumano people. Silverio Escontrías bought the land from Armendariz in 1898 and the family used it as a ranch and tourist attraction until 1956. The drawings may have been used in praying for rain. The project discovered 300 previously unrecorded pictographs. The findings of their work was published in A Rock Art Inventory at Hueco Tanks State Park (1974). In 1988, park ranger Dave Parker and archeologist Ron Ralph plotted the location of all known pictographs. A digital database of the art and its GPS coordinates was started in 1999 with Robert Mark and Evelyn Billo. == Geology ==

The syenite pluton was formed 34-38 million years ago, as part of a larger range, the Hueco Mountains, which range in age to over 320 million years ago, when this area was covered by an inland sea. The pluton was eventually exposed through weathering to form the rock formations visible today, which jut from the desert floor. The tanks were once capable of containing a year's supply of water. The syenite rock formation is covered with 'desert patina' (visible in the image below), the result of thousands of years of weathering of the rock surface by sun, sand, and water; the site is culturally and spiritually significant to many Native Americans, such as the Mescalero Apache, the Kiowa, the Hopi, and the Pueblo people. This significance is partially manifested in the pictographs (rock paintings) that can be found throughout the region, some of which are thousands of years old. Hueco Tanks contains the single largest concentration of mask paintings by Native Americans in North America, of which hundreds exist at this site. ==Nature==

Animals Longtail tadpole shrimp and Couch's spadefoot survive at the site; for this and other reasons, visitors are cautioned against touching the pools of water at Hueco Tanks to avoid destroying the eggs of these animals. Other amphibians seen in the park include barred tiger salamanders. Plants Around the syenite outcrops, the park is surrounded by Chihuahuan Desert scrub with creosote bush as the dominant species. The site contains enough water to support Arizona white oak and one-seed juniper species which survive from the last ice age. Other trees found in the area include netleaf hackberry, Texas mulberry, Mexican buckeye, and catclaw acacia. Hueco Tanks has the only population in the United States of the plant Colubrina stricta. ==Activities==

Activities offered at the park include camping, picnicking, hiking, bouldering and birdwatching. Bouldering Hueco Tanks is widely regarded as one of the best areas in the world for bouldering, that is, rock climbing low enough to attempt without ropes for protection. It is unique for its rock type, the concentration and the quality of the climbing. In any given climbing season, which generally lasts from October through March, it is common for climbers from across Europe, Asia, and Australia to visit the park. In February an outdoor bouldering competition known as the Hueco Rock Rodeo is held. The event is a world-class outdoor competition that attracts many professional climbers every year. Since the implementation of the Public Use Plan in June 2000, following a brief closure of the entire park due to the park service's inability to manage the growing crowds of international climbers, more than two-thirds of the park is restricted to tours by volunteer or commercial guides. Only North Mountain is accessible without guides, and then only for about 70 people at any given time, except on the south side at ground level, which is closed to the public. ==See also==