We took Adam to the airport and sent him back to his girls.  Then onward to new adventures for us.  We decided to camp outside El Paso at a state park called Hueco Tanks State Park.  It 35 miles from El Paso up Rt. 180.  This is the approach

On arrival at the Check-in desk, we pay our 30 dollars to the State of Texas.  We need to attend an orientation to the historical site.  So we go and listen to the video of the area.  We are allowed in a small area that is for unguided use.  Lots of people rock climb in the unguided area.  The entire 400+ acres has over 2000 pictographs.  

We want to get a tour so we go back to the admissions area and ask about the tours.  Seems there are two tomorrow but they are both full.  Seems we did it a bit backwards.  First get on the tour, then get the campsite.  We could chance one of the tours having some drop outs but I don't think that is likely.  We decide to take some walks in the area that does not require guides.

We hike the trails to No. 17 pictographs.  We see this sign and think Yeh!

We shortly arrive at the cave to see this:

We quickly figure out what the unguided area looks like.  Under all the marks are pictographs.  They are faint and hard to see...but there. 

We also learned that the Butterfield Stage Route went through this area.  Seems the station was around No. 17 but no remains can be seen.  Instead the marker is at another location where the rancher moved the stone used for the station to his area and made it a animal shelter.  Here are the moved remains.

And here is the sign that talks about the station like this is the right location. 

We were told only one Hueco Tank had water and the mosquitoes would take you away this time of year if you got close.   We decided this was a nice area if you make reservations for the tour in advance.