West Texas boasts no shortage of peaks from which to look out and be humbled by the Trans-Pecos volcanic field unfolding before you. Davis Mountains State Park contains dozens of vistas, but a particularly hypnotic one can be found at the Keesey Canyon Overlook. The highest point along the park’s Skyline Drive Trail, it offers a rustic wooden bench that serves as an ideal resting spot for hikers who’ve conquered the formidable switchbacks along the climb to get here. From 5,500 feet above sea level, the view stretches toward the town of Fort Davis, to the southeast, over a sea of agarita, catclaw acacia, cholla, and trompillo covering the remnants of a volcanic eruption that transformed the landscape some 35 million years ago. Turn your neck to the west and you’ll spot the park’s historic Indian Lodge, a gleaming white adobe that pops out against the brown terrain. Completed by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935, it will reopen this year after a $3.5 million renovation—another fine place to rest posthike.
This article originally appeared in the April 2024 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Sit for a Spell.” Subscribe today.
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