How far to the nearest mountain range from Austin? (El Paso: how much, dangerous) - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

justanothercalifornian · 08-10-2007, 11:01 AM

I will really miss hiking and just plain looking at th mountains in the distance. What's a mountain lover to do in Austin?

Trainwreck20 · 08-10-2007, 11:27 AM

Lol....get used to hills and pretend that they are mountains? Really, Big Bend has some neat mountiains. Guadalupe Mts and Davis Mts are out there, and the Franklin Mts are around El Paso. If you go into NM, there is the southern rockies. If you want to head the other way, the Ozarks in N. Arkansas/E. Oklahoma are nice.

twange · 08-10-2007, 11:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Lol....get used to hills and pretend that they are mountains? Really, Big Bend has some neat mountiains. Guadalupe Mts and Davis Mts are out there, and the Franklin Mts are around El Paso. If you go into NM, there is the southern rockies. If you want to head the other way, the Ozarks in N. Arkansas/E. Oklahoma are nice.

Definitely. Big Bend, Guadalupe and Davis are about 8hrs from Austin. Not really too far. And those areas are fairly remote, which for me, is the most important!

mimimomx3 · 08-10-2007, 11:47 AM

Um...go to Colorado for vacation?
Enchanted Rock is close...don't know if that's the kind of mountains you're thinking of. Big Bend is amazing.

justanothercalifornian · 08-10-2007, 03:50 PM

I just googled Big Bend images and they are unbelievably gorgeous!! Well worth an 8 hour drive. Thanks people!

equus007 · 08-10-2007, 04:05 PM

Even the Davis Mts. are only mountains in name. Really just the ass end of the Rockies. Most of it is volcanic. Nothing really huge but BBend is awesome and we are close to Mexico so getting to the Chiapas is not too difficult...though fairly dangerous.

twange · 08-10-2007, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justanothercalifornian

I just googled Big Bend images and they are unbelievably gorgeous!! Well worth an 8 hour drive. Thanks people!

No doubt. And the ecosystems are really special there. Lots of variety

TheHarvester · 08-10-2007, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by justanothercalifornian

I will really miss hiking and just plain looking at th mountains in the distance. What's a mountain lover to do in Austin?

The nearest mountain range, by my definition, is a 2-day drive. That's cuz I can't pull off a 12 hour drive in a day and I don't count Big Bend because most of the time it's too hot and dry to hike there and feel comfortable. For me, it's Cloudcroft/Ruidoso in New Mexico. And there was one summer when I was going so insane from the heat that I made the drive just to feel what 70 degrees was like again. I had to get up to about 6,000 feet in elevation before the temperature dropped below 80, and finally reached a high enough location that I could let my dogs out to swim in a cool stream and do some hiking. It was heavenly, but it was a painful reminder of how isolated we are in Austin. This is DEEP in the heart of Texas. Anyone with delusions of easy escapes from Texas is, well, delusional. Hop on a plane for a few hours or get in your car and prepare to see miles and miles of Texas. Or just go to Barton Springs and enjoy the cold spring water and try to forget about mountains.

StuckInTexas · 08-31-2007, 05:28 AM

I've been to these places, Big Bend, Fort Davis, etc...

There is one part of the Davis Mountains that has really good scenery in the pre-Fall (Aug thru Sep)... You take the Fort Davis Scenic Loop and keep going past the Observatory another 20+ miles or so. It starts to first turn somewhat green around the McDonald observatory, but it becomes extremely green past this point and there is even a pine forest. The road goes to 6,700 feet and as you drive some odd miles past the observatory you enter a valley with pine trees where you can see sawtooth mountain. It is a pretty cool looking view, because it rises dramatically out of the green valleyed pine forest like a mini Grand-Teton.

The disadvantage is I don't think it's very accessible, but the road goes pretty close to it. Also, it is a VERY small area where the mountains are this green. Really it's only one valley and maybe 10 miles out of the entire 70 mile loop drive that looks like this. When I say green - I mean REALLY green, it is as green as Colorado's mountains and even greener than most of New Mexico.

The scenery on parts of this road beat Big Bend easily and it is the best scenery in Texas, but you won't find any images on the Internet that do the road justice, because they usually take the pictures on the less desolate part of the road (near the observatory) where the scenery is not as good.

The rest of the Fort-Davis area is so-so, depends on how much rain they've had. The drive between Fort Davis and Alpine is also pretty neat if it's green.

Big Bend is ok scenery but it's much drier and hotter than the Fort Davis Scenic Loop. The problem with the Fort Davis and Big Bend area is it's just too remote.

Ruidoso is cool, or you can also make it to Santa Fe in one day if you are a fast driver (about 720 miles)... Then the next day drive to the Red River Valley area in New Mexico (another 100 miles or so), or you can go all the way to southern Colorado.

TheHarvester · 08-31-2007, 10:25 AM

StuckInTexas --- fantastic post, very informative! Now, will you kindly tell us the story behind your name? Or perhaps that would be too off-topic. I get curious about a lot of the names on here.

Regardless of that, you responded perfectly to the original question, and it was your first post, so your participation in this forum will surely be a positive contribution. Thanks!