El Paso area West 2009

We tried to go hunting for a fluorite mine just a little West of El Paso but had to hurry out of the area when we encountered a wildfire that had the possibility of closing off our exit. The fire looked so little from where we were but Doug and Eric knew more about fires in the area and decided we couldn't stay. Most of these pictures were taken with the telephoto lens. We were probably about 6 miles away from it. We saw the mine and a few other things but didn't get to dig for the fluorite. Then we went to Kilbourne Hole, an old maar volcano where we picked up some mantle material with beautiful green chrystals in it.

Taken at 5:34pm

Taken at 5:35pm. Notice where the fire is related to the crooked twin Yucca on the left.

Taken at 5:37pm. Now, 2 minutes later, the flames are way past the cooked twin Yucca. The flames have probably advanced over 50 feet. We could hear the fire popping way up on the hill miles away.

It took Doug exactly 15 minutes to hike from the truck to the mine at the top of the hill just to the left and above the white spot. I was using my zoom lens so he is still not even half way between the truck and the mine.

This entire series was taken within one minute at 6:00pm. We think the bush that caught fire is a creosote bush. Look up creosote on the web. It is obviously very flamable.

Day 1 - Fluorite Mine and Wildfire ~6 seconds Day 1 - Kilbourne Hole ~4 seconds Day 2 - Three Rivers Petroglyphs ~15 seconds Day 3 - Fluorite Mine ~11 seconds Day 4 - Hueco Tanks trip #1 ~12 seconds Day 5 - El Paso Missions ~9 seconds Day 5 - Wilderness Park Museum ~12 seconds Day 6 - Hueco Tanks trip #2 ~15 seconds Hueco Tanks information ~3seconds Day 6 - Guadalupe Mountains ~13 seconds Day 7 - White Sands National Monument ~17 seconds Day 8-9 - The El Paso Loop Trail ~5 seconds Day 10 - Hueco Tanks trip #3 ~12 seconds (The best of the trip) Day 11 - Trip Home ~9 seconds Link to the Large Versions Back to the map page. Please mail me broken links-pics.