Smuggler's Pass, the high crest of the Transmountain Drive at roughly a mile above the sea — the summit of the crossing, with grand views and a hard frontier history in its name.
You've reached the top — this is Smuggler's Pass, the high crest of the whole drive, right around a mile above sea level, the saddle where the road slips through the spine of the Franklin Mountains. Pull off at the overlook here and take it in, because the views spill out on both sides now, east and west, the desert and the city and the far ranges of two countries laid out below you. Up here among the bare rock and the desert plants, with the wind and the big sky, it's hard to believe a great city is humming just down the slope.
And the name — Smuggler's Pass — is no invention; it's earned, and Boone will tell you the hard tale behind it. Look around at the Chihuahuan Desert up here: the spiky ocotillo with its whip-like canes, the yuccas and the sotol, the barrel cactus, all of it tough and beautiful and adapted to this dry, rocky, sun-hammered high country. And keep an eye on the crags — mule deer browse up here, and though you'll almost surely never see one, mountain lions do prowl these mountains, even this close to the city. It's wild up here, truly wild, at the rooftop of El Paso. Take your photos, feel the height and the openness — then it's downhill from here, into the northeast side of the city. Roll on over the top.
Photo: Dicklyon · CC BY-SA 4.0
