Guadelupe National Park, July 1998
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The Lonely Road to Guadelupe
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Thursday July 2 - The Long Drive to Guadelupe
Fourth of July weekend.....Houston Texas.....we did not want to fly anywhere, but we did not want to stay in town.....what better idea than to drive ten hours to one of the hottest places in the world?  And, it was still in Texas!

Vic Bolze and I decided that we would spend our four-day holiday weekend on the western edge of Texas.  We had been in the area once before - in November 1997, to hike in Big Bend National Park.  West Texas is similar to the dry canyon-country of the western United States, and is a pleasant change from the humidity of the Houston area.  We had always wanted to return to the area to see the little-visited Guadelupe National Park, and maybe even Carlsbad Caverns.  I had spoken earlier to an old friend from Chicago, Lisa Rodriguez, who also planned to be in the area on a hiking trip.  Lisa lived in Tucson Arizona, about a six hour drive from the park.  We had arranged to meet Lisa and another of her Tucson friends for a weekend of day-hiking.

Vic and I were a bit concerned about the July heat in the Chihuahuan desert surrounding the park, but we hoped that it would be cooler up at higher altitudes - most of the park was above 5000' elevation.  We had planned to meet Lisa in the park campground, located just outside the mountains at 5300' elevation.  We left Sugar Land early (at 3pm), and headed west on I-10.  We drove west on I-10 for about eight hours, then cut north on a small road to the National Park.  We arrived just after 2am, and found Lisa and her friend already fast asleep in their tent.  We briefly woke them up, put up our tent, and then were asleep within minutes after the long tiring drive.  The weather was pleasantly cool at the campground elevation, and it even sprinkled rain a bit during the night.

Friday July 3 - Guadelupe Peak, Highest Point in Texas
Early rise in the campground to clear blue skies.  We made a good breakfast of pancakes, and then debated what to do for the day.  There are several good overnight trips in the park, but we were looking for the ultimate day-hike.  We decided that we would hike up to Guadelupe Peak, the highest summit in Texas at an elevation a little below 9000 feet.  We hoped that it would provide one of the best views in the country, considering the significant elevation drop down to the vast surrounding desert at sea level.   The 8.2 mile round-trip hike started at the main visitor center/ranger station, at about 6500 feet, and switchbacked up the side of the peak.  We packed up camp, and drove the cars over to the visitor center.  After a brief bathroom and water stop, and a short chat with one of the park rangers, we started up the trail.

Vic borrowed my heart rate monitor for the day, to see how he would fare on the steep track.  His pulse quickly rose to 160 after the start of the hike, and never dropped much lower!  At least he was getting a good workout.  We stopped at multiple points along the trail, to enjoy the view that seemed to increase drastically between glances up from the trail.  The temperature was perfect at this altitude, and there were no storms in sight.  The path was rocky but clear - everyone was well prepared, so there were no significant foot problems with this group.  We were on the top by noon, and were greeted with incredible views over the endless desert below.  It seemed as if we could see Mexico on the horizon!  We made lunch of soup and sandwiches on the summit, admired the views, and then started our descent.  We were back at the campground by late afternoon, tired from the long day of hiking, and ready for a good dinner at camp.  We spent the night hanging out in the campground, and were asleep fairly early under clear skies and thousands of stars.  West Texas is known to be one of the "darkest" locations in the U.S. - with the least artificial light, and was the perfect location for astronomers and stargazing.  Images from the day:
 
Carefully flipping pancakes
Switchbacks up to Guadelupe Peak
On the trail
On top of Texas!

 
Group on a ridge
Tree shade is hard to find

Saturday July 4 - Hiking the Bowl, and Carlsbad Caverns
We woke up late, and again scanned the map to find a good day hike.  We were still tired from the previous day's hike, and we did not want to do anything too strenuous.  We decided to hike up to the "bowl", a 9.5 mile round-trip hike through the thickest forest of the park.  The total elevation gain was 2500 feet - still significant considering the previous day's work.  We spent the morning hiking in the bowl, and were a bit disappointed by the sparseness of the forest.  Evidently there had been a forest fire in recent years, which had significantly thinned the forest.  We returned to the ranger station by early afternoon.

Lisa and her friend had to return to Tucson early, so we said our good-byes and they started the lonely drive back to Arizona.  Vic and I decided to drive northwest, across the Texas border, to Carlsbad New Mexico.  Carlsbad is the home of Carlsbad caverns, one of the largest cave networks in North America.  The caves had been significantly developed, and were now "paved" with an asphalt trail though most of the halls and caverns.  We spent the afternoon exploring the cave, and wandering through the various halls.  We found a campground in the early evening, and had dinner at the campground.  Images from the day:
 
Hiking up to the Bowl
View from a ridge
Do they have a pool & sauna?
Guadelupe mountains, view from just outside the park

Sunday July 5th - The Long Drive Back to Houston
We woke up late and began the long drive back to Houston.  It was ten hours total, and we were very happy to be out of the car upon arrival in town.  But, the hiking and landscape of west Texas is always well worth the drive from Houston.  I have since returned to Big Bend National Park, and would still like to explore more of the empty wilderness and prairie landscape of the west Texas parks.
 

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