North Franklin Peak
| North Franklin Mountain | |
|---|---|
North Franklin Mountain, looking northeast from South Franklin Mountain
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 7,192 ft (2,192 m) |
| Prominence | 2,982 ft (909 m) |
| Coordinates | 31°54′10″N 106°29′36″W / 31.90278°N 106.49333°WCoordinates: 31°54′10″N 106°29′36″W / 31.90278°N 106.49333°W |
| Geography | |
| Location | El Paso County, Texas, U.S. |
| Parent range | Franklin Mountains |
| Topo map | USGS North Franklin Mountain |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Mundy's Gap Trail + North Franklin Peak Trail |
North Franklin Mountain (or North Franklin Peak) is a mountain in the Franklin Mountains of El Paso, Texas, located in the Southwestern United States. North Franklin, at 7,192 feet (2,192 m), is the highest point in El Paso, and the 27th-highest mountain in the state of Texas. Surrounded by a state park and with a maintained trail leading to its summit, the mountain is a popular hiking destination.
North Franklin is located entirely within the city of El Paso, approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of the Texas–New Mexico border and 15 miles (24 km) north of the U.S.–Mexico border. The mountain is the highest of the Franklins, clipping nearby Anthony's Nose by just over 200 feet (61 m) and neighboring South Franklin by nearly 300 feet (91 m). North Franklin rises 3,300 feet (1,000 m) above both its western base in the Mesilla Valley and its eastern base in the Hueco Bolson. In spite of its name, North Franklin is actually in the central Franklins, being the northernmost of the range's two key peaks (South Franklin, of course, is the other). To the south of these, the South Franklins include the peaks Mount Franklin and Ranger Peak (all of the television broadcast towers for El Paso are in the Southern Franklins).
Like most of the Franklins, North Franklin Mountain is visible from many miles away. When observed from the east or west, North Franklin is shaped like a scalene triangle, with its long side facing its dome-shaped sister peak South Franklin Mountain. This quality makes it a valuable navigation point when traversing the desert areas around El Paso.
The Franklin Mountains are tilted-block fault mountains composed of sedimentary rocks, some of which date back to Precambrian times and are among the oldest in Texas. The mountains represent the southernmost tip of the Rocky Mountains in the U.S., and like the Rockies, were formed 60–70 million years ago during the Laramide orogeny. The Precambrian rocks atop North Franklin Mountain represent "the highest geological structure in the state of Texas."
North Franklin gets its reddish color from the unusually high levels of oxidized iron in the volcanic rocks coating its summit and higher slopes.
For centuries, Native Americans and other travellers have used the vegetation and wildlife in the Franklins when crossing the Paso del Norte—the gap between the Franklin Mountains and the Juarez Mountains that is now the site of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso. Pictographs and mortar pits attest to a human presence in the mountains dating back more than 12,000 years.
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Wikipedia