Three granite and rhyolite hills rise from the Chihuahuan Desert east of El Paso, their hollows, the huecos, trapping rainwater that made them a desert crossroads for thousands of years. Texas Parks and Wildlife calls the site a sacred desert sanctuary in its own materials, and the rock faces carry one of the most significant concentrations of rock imagery in North America: thousands of painted figures, including the masked faces of the Jornada Mogollon painters and the White Horned Dancer imagery, alongside Mescalero Apache presence and the passage of the Camino Real. It became a National Historic Landmark in 2021.

The park protects the paintings the way the tradition and the record require: access is restricted by rule, self-guided areas are limited to 70 people a day by permit, deeper areas are reachable only on guided tours, and the locations of specific paintings are deliberately not publicized. Orientation is required before entry, campfires and drones are banned, and the park regularly reaches capacity.

Visiting

Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Site (6900 Hueco Tanks Road No. 1, El Paso TX) requires planning: North Mountain self-guided permits (70 per day, reservable up to three months ahead at 512-389-8911), guided-area tours booked at least a week ahead at 915-857-1135, $7 adult entry, orientation video required.

Photo: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hueco-tanks-east-mtn-tx1.jpg), CC BY 3.0, Brian Stansberry.

Associated traditions & practices

Native American Traditions Ancestor Work Sacred Site Pilgrimage