 Here, the National Park Service maintains a parking area, restroom facilities, and visitor center, which is staffed most of the year by volunteers.McKittrick Canyon Trail begins at the visitor center and initially follows a dry stream, crossing the stream bed several times as it works its way up the canyon.At first, the vegetation is more typical of the Chihuahuan Desert with various species of yucca, agave, and cacti, such as Spanish dagger ("Yucca faxoniana"), sotol ("Dasylirion leiophyllum"), ocotillo ("Fouquieria splendens"), lechuguilla ("Agave lechuguilla"), century plants ("Agave americana"), prickly pear ("Opuntia" spp.