Уэко Танкс: Исторический парк и древние скальные рисунки Техаса

Hueco Tanks is an area of low mountains and historic site in El Paso County, Texas, in the United States. It is located in a high altitude desert basin between the Franklin Mountains to the west and the Hueco Mountains to the east. Hueco is a Spanish word meaning hollows and refers to the many water holding depressions in the boulders and rock faces throughout the region. Due to the unique concentration of historic artifacts, plants and wildlife, the site is under protection of Texas law; it is a crime to remove, alter, or destroy them. The historic site is located approximately 32 miles (51 km) northeast of central El Paso, Texas, accessible via El Paso's Montana Avenue (U. S. Route 62/U. S. Route 180), by turning at RM 2775. The park consists of three syenite (a weak form of granite) mountains; it is in area and is popular for recreation such as birdwatching and bouldering. It is culturally and spiritually significant to many Native Americans. This significance is partially manifested in the pictographs (rock paintings) that can be found throughout the region, many of which are thousands of years old.

Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site was obtained from the county by special deed on June 12, 1969, and by purchase of 121 additional acres on August 10, 1970. This site was opened to the public in May 1970. This 860.3 acre park is named for the large natural rock basins or "huecos" that have furnished a supply of trapped rainwater to dwellers and travelers in this arid region of west Texas for millennia.

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.

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 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.

Freshwater shrimp and spadefoot toads 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.

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 live oaks and junipers, species which survive from the last ice age. Other trees found in the area include netleaf hackberry, Texas mulberry, Mexican buckeye, catclaw acacia, and Arizona white oak. Hueco Tanks has the only population in the United States of the plant Colubrina stricta. 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. The park offers camping and showers for $12 per night (as of April 2020), or, as is most popular for climbers, the nearby Hueco Rock Ranch offers camping where climbers can relax and socialize. This is also where commercial guides can be found, and where many volunteer guides stay during the climbing season.