The Franklin Mountains have seen human activity since at least 12,000 years ago, but their name came from a much more recent source, when a rancher named Benjamin Franklin Coons settled in El Paso in 1849 — he was such a heavyweight in the region that locals used to call the city “Franklin” in the 1850s. The mountain range is now a state park that runs along 23 miles, although it is only 3 miles wide.
Parks get made by folks who care about nature, and the Franklin Mountain State Park began when a group called the Wilderness Park Coalition organized to oppose a real estate developer who wanted to build houses on the land in 1979. It took organizers a while, but they saved the land and in 1987 the park was open to the public.
The trail featured here is the “Aztec Cave” — in mid-October, the bright desert sunlight and blue skies shone in comfortable 75° weather along the path leading up to caves in the mountainside, and the solitude was striking.
