Davis Mountains State Park is about half an hour from Marfa, Texas where we are this week. A little background. The park lies within the Chihuahuan Desert, the largest desert in North America. Volcanic activity formed the mountains 25 to 30 million years ago and evidence of this is visible in the exposed rock along the canyon walls. Between 1933 and 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps built many of the facilities still used in the park today.
This isn’t flat area, the Davis Mountains rise from 5000 to 6000′ and the trails are incredibly rocky. We put together an 18 mile ride with 1727′ of climbing. None of the trails were on the two apps we use for planning and researching rides so we didn’t know what to expect. Both of us were pleasantly surprised at the terrain and challenges of the trails. We rode up Limpia Creek Trail which is a series of very rocky switchbacks up to Sheep Pen Canyon Loop. We then rode Sheep Pen Canyon Loop counter clockwise and turned around and rode it clockwise too! We rode a side trail up to the Vista Point and stopped to leave a message in the metal box, admire the expansive views, and then continued on.
A VERY cool part of the day was seeing herds of Aoudad Sheep. These sheep are native to rugged areas of Northern Africa and are a species of Caprid (goat-antelope). During World War II, some American soldiers stationed in Chad and the Barbary Coast of Northern Africa discovered Aoudad and realized their potential as a game animal. After the war these soldiers had some animals shipped to ranches in Texas. Aoudad are very hard to keep fenced in, and they escaped and have successfully reproduced in Texas.
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