This hike started about mid-morning but early enough to finish before the afternoon showers that were forecast for today. At the beginning of the trail I met a couple of other hikers who had the same plan as me. They were behind me for a good portion of the hike but eventually we caught up with each other.
The trailhead for the La Presa Overlook trail is the same as the one for the Rio Grande trail, but this one split off at a trail intersection after about half a mile. The trail intersection is very close to an old railroad bed that remains from the section of the Southern Pacific Railroad that spanned between El Paso and San Antonio.
Continuing along this leg the trail for about a half mile, I came across a small bridge near the canyon. The bridge spans a small area, and seems to be designed only to keep hikers from walking over what remains of two “wikiups” that were inhabited sometime between 500AD and 1000 AD. To be honest, I couldn’t make out the stone rings among the other stones in the area, so I’ll just take the placard at it’s word.
A little beyond the bridges, I saw the hikers that I met at the beginning of the trail on the other side of a curve in the canyon wall. We waved and took a photo of each other – I thought it came out pretty cool when I put ‘em side by side.
In the area that I took this photo I began seeing a lot of fossils / impressions that were loose. Some folks had even taken the time to make a little display alongside the trail.
I arrived at La Presa Overlook about two miles from the trailhead. The overlook is nice, and offers a panoramic view of the junction of two river beds that lead into another which would then flow towards the Rio Grande River.
By this time, I could see that the rain that was predicted for later in the afternoon was going to come in early, so rather than continue along the trail for the next overlook a couple of miles away, I decided to head to hopefully get back to my campsite before the storms opened up. On the way back, I saw a jackrabbit watching me from the edge of the trail. It’s amazing how well he was camouflaged, but if you look closely you can see him in the center of the photo.
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