The Hueco Mountains are a range of mountains that rise in south-central New Mexico and extend 27 miles (43 km) south into west Texas, about thirty miles east of the city of El Paso, Texas. The highest point of the range is the Cerro Alto Mountain 6,703 feet (2,043 m).

The soil in the Hueco Mountains is shallow and stony, but still supports oak, juniper, and some mesquite. The mountains were part of the Rocky Mountain trend, forced upward as part of the Laramide mountain-building period during the late Cretaceous, 60 to 70 million years ago.

The word hueco is Spanish for hollow, gap, or hole

It drops down to 16 degrees before seven this morning and that beats my coldest overnight temperature in the jammer, which is 17 degrees. I rise, start the jammer, turn on the heater and wait for it to warm up inside before I rise and dress in my winter blues. Then, I drive out of the parking lot and immediately head south on US 385. Once I get going, the jammer warms up nicely and I take off my hooded sweater. I continue south until I arrive in Seminole, Texas where I turn west on US 180 and continue across the Great Plains into New Mexico.

So that means that I am back in the Basin and Range region, only now in New Mexico region and will be for just a short time. Leaving the caverns, I drive across the state line back into Texas and stop next at Guadalupe Mountain National Park. This is the first definitive mountain range in this region and I take more photos. Leaving the park, I continue on US 180 (US 60), first to the south and then sweep around to the west and soon see Cerro Alto Mountain in the Hueco Range, where I stop to take a photo.