According to park staff, they plan to remain open despite any city mandated stay home orders. During such orders, OUTDOOR RECREATION is considered essential. The park may close periodically if they have a case of COVID within their staff. The park has implemented new COVID safety measures to limit contact with guests. NORTH MOUNTAIN : The Park allows visitors in one at a time to check in for North Mountain. One person is designated to check your entire party into north. Mask required in the office. BACK COUNTRY TOURS: limited to 10 people total including guide. Guide will handle check-in process as per usual so no clients will enter the headquarters. (see commercial websites for tour info www.wagonwheelcoopt.com or www.sessionsclimbing.com
Hueco Tanks State Park & Historic Siteis a world class bouldering destination, offering a high concentration of problems of every grade from V0-V14. Every year 100's of climbers migrate to Hueco Tanks. Climbing season is November - April, the peak months being January and Febuary, which are the coldest months. However, due to the restrictions here there are a few things you need to know:
There are 2 ways to access the park: 1) North Mountain w/out a guide or2) guided tour to the other 3 mountains (East, West, or East Spur) See BACKCOUNTRY ACCESS below.
The number of people allowed on North is limited to 70. The park takes reservations in advance for 60 people and also has 10 "walk-in" spots each day. You can make reservations up to 3 months ahead of time. Those with reservations have until 10:00 am that day to either claim the reservation at the park or notify the park to hold it for later in the day.
At 10:00 a.m. the park staff will consider the unclaimed reservations "no-shows" and give them to people who are on the wait list. To be on the wait list, you will need to be at park gate as early as possible to get a place in line. After 10 am, they will let people from the wait list in if there are spaces available from the "no-shows".
There is a fee to visit North Mountain, but if you buy a Texas State Parks Pass, then the fee is waived for everybody in your vehicle.
BACKCOUNTRY (West, East, East Spur) Climbing in the West, East, and East Spur requires a guided tour (either volunteer or commercial -see below).
VOLUNTEER TOURS: (915) 857-1135 Volunteer tours offer a cheaper way to get into the backcountry. Volunteer tours are scheduled thru the park headquarters at (915) 857-1135. Availability varies due to volunteer schedules, thus there is no guarantee for volunteer tours.
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COMMERCIAL TOURS: Commercial services offer a more reliable way to get into the backcountry.