Shoot It, Climb It, Camp It: 10 Acres All Your Own

The Backstop’s Already There. So Is the Quiet.

Somewhere between the range membership, the cease-fire calls, and an HOA letter about a target stand in the backyard, a lot of folks quietly give up on the idea of a place where they can just shoot, camp, and be left alone. This is the ground that talks them back into it. Ten acres of high-desert West Texas with a 100-foot cliff standing right on the parcel, which is about the finest natural backstop a fella could ask for and a good sight cheaper than a lane at the range.

Sight in a rifle, scramble up that cliff if climbing is more your speed, run the ATV till the sun quits, and pitch a tent the first night it’s yours. There’s no zoning out here and nothing telling you when to build, so a cabin can come later on your own clock. Shooter, rock climber, off-grid tinkerer, or the guy who just wants somewhere the neighbors can’t hear the target practice? There’s room for you out here.

It sits near Fort Hancock, high-desert border country about an hour and a half from El Paso. If the name rings a bell, that’s the town from the closing of The Shawshank Redemption, the last stop before the line into Mexico. Real West Texas quiet, the kind you have to drive a while to find.

The one real trade is the road, or the lack of one: there’s no maintained track to the parcel yet, so getting on takes some doing (bring the truck with the good tires), and that same fact is what keeps everyone else off it. That cliff stood here long before any of us, and for a good long stretch it can be yours to stand on top of.

• A 100-foot natural cliff backstop, ready for target practice or climbing
• No zoning and no build clock, so you set your own pace
• Go fully off-grid with a well, septic, and solar power
• Camp or park the RV from day one while you build
• No road worn in yet, which is exactly what keeps it private
• About 75 miles to El Paso for a real supply run
• Big-box stores like Walmart and Home Depot are in El Paso
• No HOA and low annual property taxes keep the upkeep cheap