Easter Hike - Mount Christo Rey and the Tramway

In the southwest corner of El Paso is a very special mountain--Mount Christo Rey.  From the top you can see into New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico.  But the most important thing is the 30 foot sculpture of Christ on the cross at the summit. 







Such a special mountain should be hiked on a regular basis.  But its proximity to Mexico has given it a bad reputation for not being safe.  Over and over we saw and heard that you shouldn't hike here alone.  But we had great timing in being here during the Easter weekend, because several churches sponsored hikes to the top.  

 
We couldn't make the Good Friday hike when the weather was beautiful, because we were waiting for the repairman at the motorhome.  But we wouldn't miss the chance at a very unusual hike.  So we braved the cold air and 35 mph winds on the day before Easter. The 2.5 mile trail to the top has all the stations of the cross, and the sponsoring church provided a leaflet with descriptions of what happened to Christ along the Via Delarosa at each station.

The picture below was our first glimpse of the cross at the top.  You can see the terraces of switchbacks, and some of the hundreds of people that we hiked with that day.

You can see into Mexico at the 14th station. That big wall that divides the two countries was definitely imposing even from that height.

There was a bible reading at the top, as well as a prayer and singing.  It was great to be at the top of Mount Christo Rey on the day before Easter!

On the way down, we could look over the United States valley.  That large oval in the near valley is the horse race track (with the lake in the middle) where our motorhome is parked. Again, you can see the trails that zig-zag across the face of the mountain.

It's just sad that this hike can't be done any day of the year.  The warnings we had heard about the safety of this hike certainly seem to be true.  We have never seen a hike that necessitated a phone call to the police department.







You would assume that a 5 mile mountain hike would be enough exercise for the day, and that was certainly what we had planned.  But we decided to go for a tram ride to the top of another mountain that day.  The Wyler Aerial Tramway goes to the top of one of the tallest peaks in the Franklin Mountains, and it only runs on the weekend.  Since this was the only weekend we would be in El Paso, we wanted to take a ride.  The 35 mph wind had laid down, so we were sure the tram would be running.  But when we arrived, we found that they were still waiting to start the tram.  So for some unknown reason, we decided to hike up to the top.  This is one of the most strenuous hikes in the Franklin Mountains.  It isn't the length, it's the fact that the trail goes straight up.  But there are great views.  We are just on bench 1 (of 4 benches) and we could already see most of the city of El Paso.

We took another break half-way to the top for another photo opportunity.  Actually, we took many breaks because this was a tough hike. It's the kind of hike that you have to register with the ranger at the bottom before you start; not because it is in a crime-ridden area, but because they will come looking for you if you don't make it back down.  The ranger that registered us suggested that we try the hike up to the first bench.  He obviously never considered that we would make it to the top.  But we did make it to the top, and it was a great view.  It's hard to see these tiny panorama shots, but it was quite a view of the city and the surrounding peaks.

After talking to the ranger, we assumed that they would be starting the tramway soon so we could ride it down.  The winds were quite light and it was a pleasant evening.  But the ranger in charge had determined that the winds were still too brisk.  This is the tram that we really wanted to ride down that mountain.

So it was another long hike to the bottom.  We had a lot of time on that hike to plan what we would do with all the money we saved from not having to buy those two tramway tickets!  We were surprised to see a couple of the rangers coming up the path as we got down to bench 1.  They had noticed that we were gone for an awfully long time for a couple of old retired people that obviously weren't going to make it past the first bench.  So they went out looking for us before quitting time.  They were really surprised to hear about our hike to the top!

Later that night, as we rested our weary hiking bones, we had to chuckle when we listened to the 10:00 news.  It seems that a couple (ages 19 and 20) were lost on a trail on the Franklin Mountains and there was a search going on for them. If we had just hung out on the mountain a little later, we could have made the news too!