Sanctum

Dogs Leashed

Features Views · Wildflowers

Trails around the Franklin Mountains are often rocky and technical, so users unfamiliar with rough terrain should use caution. Trail shoes with rock plates are strongly recommended.

This short trail climbs to the Franklin Mountains' Thunderbird Formation, a billion year old band of red rhyolite regarded as supernatural by the area's original Native American tribes. The path wastes no time in beginning a challenging ascent towards the mountains' red cliffs, cutting to the north near a false trail while paralleling a rocky arroyo to the south.

Eventually, Sanctum passes through the arroyo. The well-defined trail ends here although runners looking to continue can climb a four-foot tall rock on the other side of the washout and push a short distance further. The trail as shown here ends at the base of the formation, one of El Paso's most unique and rarely visited geological features.

Ocotillo, sotols, yuccas, creosote bushes and cacti. Several species of birds.