Lost Mine Trail

Lost Mine Trail climbs into the high Chisos Mountains from the Panther Pass trailhead, ascending through oak-juniper woodland and pinyon pine forest to a ridgeline at 6,850 feet with panoramic views of the Chihuahuan Desert below. The trail gains 1,100 feet over 2.4 miles on a rocky, well-maintained path that switchbacks steadily through increasingly dramatic terrain. In the upper reaches, the vegetation shifts to a relict montane forest of Arizona cypress and Mexican pinyon pine — species that survived in the Chisos highlands since the last ice age when the desert was cooler and wetter.

From the summit ridge, the views extend south into Mexico, across the sweeping desert flats of the Chihuahuan, and north along the ragged profile of the Sierra del Carmen range. The Mexican canyon below is sometimes audible from the ridge in the form of voices from border communities across the Rio Grande. Spanish legend holds that an old mine in these mountains holds unclaimed riches — the "lost mine" — though no evidence of significant mineral extraction has ever been documented. Wildlife sightings on this trail include Carmen white-tailed deer, Colima warblers (found in the US only in the Chisos), and the rare Mexican black bear that inhabits the high mountains.