Davis Mountains Preserve Mt Livermore (Baldy Peak) Hike

The Davis Mountains are a sky island and dark sky area in the middle of the desert of West Texas. This is my (minimally edited) video from hiking Mt Livermore (Baldy Peak) in the Davis Mountains Preserve (DMP) during the October 2024 open weekend. I couldn't find a lot of information about the trails and was curious to check them out. A high clearance vehicle is required to drive past the McIvor Conservation Center. I parked at the conservation center and biked (trail bike is adequate for the unpaved roads in the valleys) the main unpaved road in the DMP (Madera Canyon Rd) to the Mt Livermore summit trailhead. The hiking round trip was 7.3 miles with over 2200' of elevation gain and 11 miles of biking. I highly recommend the DMP if you can make one of the four open weekends per year (posted online). Primitive camping and bathrooms with showers are available at the McIvor Conservation Center at the entrance of the DMP during the open weekends or at the nearby Davis Mountains State Park (about 20 minutes' drive east of the DMP)
The Nature Conservancy's Davis Mountains Preserve: www.nature.org...
Davis Mountains Preserve Open Weekends: www.nature.org...
Davis Mountains State Park: tpwd.texas.gov...