Texas_4

GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
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Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

	The drive from Dallas to Guadalupe Mountains National Park (which is in the Northwest corner of Texas, just below the New Mexico border) is pretty much all desert and oil fields, with tons of oil derricks pumping the “lifeblood” of America.  We passed through Odessa and Midland, Texas, where “41” (a.k.a. former President George Bush) made his millions as an oil man.  Gradually, we started climbing rolling hills of low desert terrain (lots of rocks, shrubs, yucca, sotol, agaves, prickly pears and other types of cacti), and in the distance, the Guadalupe Mountain Range emerged.  The National Park is literally like an oasis in the middle of the desert.  It comes up out of nowhere; the result of a violent uplift that revealed an ancient reef composed of Capitan limestone that had been buried for hundreds of millions of years by silts and salt deposits which were left after a tropical sea covering Texas and Mexico evaporated and receded.  The mountain range that was left behind, which has been further sculpted by wind, water and air is truly beautiful and is one of our favorite stops of the trip thus far.  

	As usual, we arrived just before sunset, just in time to take a short, one hour loop hike up to Smith Spring, a flowing stream that is totally beautiful and well worth the trip.  We started at Frijole Ranch, which had been an active ranch from the mid-to-late 1800s until about 40 years ago when the National Park Service acquired it and turned it into a museum.  The ranch apparently got its name from all the beans grown and/or eaten on the ranch.  It is easy to see why folks settled in this spot.  Although the ranch is in the middle of the desert, in the foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains, there is a natural spring that comes up out of the ground, yielding about six gallons of water per minute.   

	We camped that night at Cottonwood Campground, next to the visitor center.  It was by far the best car campsite of the trip.   After some dinner, courtesy of the trusty Coleman stove, we (and everyone else at the campground, since it was in the mid-40s that evening) attended a really informative Ranger Program on “Plants and Their Stories” at the heated visitor center.  Ever since this program, the two of us have been very into identifying plants at the various parks.  

	Since we went to bed at about 9:30 pm that evening (again, it was really cold outside and due to a high fire risk, we could not have a campfire), we woke up early and hit the mountain.  We hiked to Guadalupe Peak, which is the highest point in Texas, approximately 8,800 feet, and a 3,000 foot elevation gain.  It is not for the weak of heart or the out-of-shape (it took us 4 ½ hours and generally takes folks 6-7 hours), but if you are up for it, it is very much worth the effort.  Not only are the views stunning – there is a 360 degree view of the desert to the South and East, mountains to the North, and salt marshes to the West  - but you also walk through a beautiful conifer forest (with lots of scrub oak, pinion pine and juniper trees) once you get about half way up the hike.  It is hard to believe that evergreen trees exist in the middle of a desert in Texas.   

	If you do decide to do this hike, stay away from the peak during high winds and thunderstorms.  The latter seems obvious, but the former tempting to ignore.  For us, it was slightly windy at the bottom, but by no means “high winds.”  However, as we hiked about a third of the way up, the wind started to howl and literally almost blew us off the mountain.  It continued to blow this hard, depending on what side of the mountain we happened to be on, or when we were in the open.  We were really glad we brought an extra layer or two, and hats.  Thankfully, the winds died down somewhat by the time we reached the peak.  
	
	Our only regret concerning our visit to this park is that we did not have enough time to do McKittrick Canyon.   It is apparently a very beautiful hike, located about 10 miles east of the visitor center, and is a popular destination in mid-to-late-October when all the trees are starting to turn brilliant colors.  We will make a concerted effort to get back to this park and to do this hike.
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