Day 69–Western Sky’s RV Park, Las Cruses, NM, Wyler Arial Tramway Sate Park, El Paso, Texas

We opted to stay one additional night so we could go into  El Paso and take in the Arial Tram. We stopped at the office on our way out to pay for our site and the owner’s son asked  if we had experienced any problems with the water to the MH. He then told me that the well pump had no water pressure and it was being repaired.

We had been up, taken our showers so used whatever water was necessary.

The CG  is old and in need of many repairs. We feel bad for the  woman trying to run and maintain the place herself. Looks like she has a big expensive repair job on her hands.

We took a ride to the Arial Tramway State Park via the Scenic Drive overlooking El Paso. The homes along the way were incredible.

 

 

                                      

As were the views -

 

 

                          

We purchased our tickets to the tram and began our 45 minute wait for our ride to the top of Ranger Peak.

 

                           

 

                                   

 

History

Wyler Aerial Tramway fulfills the dream of philanthropist Karl O. Wyler, who strongly believed that the lofty views from atop Ranger Peak should be available to the public. He included this wish in his final will. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department accepted donation of the tramway in 1997 and opened it to the public in 2001 following extensive renovation.

The story begins, however, in 1959 when NBC-affiliate KTSM Radio built the tramway to aid the construction of a transmitter antenna and service platform. A real work­horse in its early days, the tiny tram hauled concrete, water, heavy equipment, workers—even sections of the antenna itself—to the mountain summit. Wyler directed this ambi­tious construction project and, in the process, fell in love with Ranger Peak and its top-of-the-world view.

Privately owned and operated first as El Paso Aerial Tramway, the facility allowed public access from 1960 to 1986. Although it continued to provide access for mainte­nance of telecommunications equipment, high liability insurance costs caused the tramway to close to the public for some 15 years prior to its establishment as a Texas state park.

The tramway operates on a 2,400-foot-long single-span cable system, meaning that there are no support towers along its nearly half-mile length--an engineering feat! From bottom to top, visitors are lifted some 940 vertical feet as they glide high above the rugged terrain below. Swiss-made gondolas carry tramway passengers. A haul rope pulls each gondola on a track rope along its lofty route. These “ropes” are actually the same type of super ­strong cables used in the construction of suspension bridges. To maintain tension, the track cable is anchored at the top of the mountain and tied to a massive 29-ton counterweight at the base station.

 

At the top we had a 360 degree view of a “living map” of some 7000 square miles – an area nearly the size of Massachusetts.. We could see the international border community of El Paso/Ciudad Juarez, where the Rio Grande marks the  boundary between the United States and Mexico.

 

 

                                

As we were heading back down,  clouds began rolling in. In this part of the country you can see several storm fronts at one time and one was heading for us.  On the way back to the CG it rained intermittently but nothing too drastic or even enough to bring much needed rain to the area.

Back at the CG we learned that the water issue had not been resolved and  there will be no water until Monday. No issue for us since we  always have water on board.

After a nice dinner we settled in for the evening. I spoke to our friends who recently moved to Nevada, Texas and we will be stopping to visit them on Wednesday. afternoon.