Guadalupe Mountain National Park
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I had a trip to Dallas and figured I could add a trip to Guadalupe Mountains National Park in west Texas. After my flight, I drove to Pecos, TX, which I thought was a small town that would be easy to obtain accommodations. The western Permian Basin in fracking country, and the towns and small county roads are overwhelmed with large drilling and support for the thousands of workers in this industry.
After a very busy night in Pecos, I started for the park the following morning. It took quite a while to get through all the industrial trucks and traffic on the few roads in the area. Once clear, it was a beautiful drive to the park. The park consists of a few tall peaks that create shaded valleys. These allow snow to collect in Winter and reduce evaporation in Summer. The conditions created small, forested areas to develop in the mountain valleys, which are a refuge in the surrounding desert landscape around it. I filled up my water bottles and supplemental water reservoir and headed up the mountain. I reached the Guadalupe Peak Campground a short distance below the actual summit of Guadalupe Peak (8,749’). While setting up my tent, I noticed that my MSR Dromedary bag was leaking, so I didn’t have as much water as I wanted. Once my camp was set up, I headed for the summit. It was a spectacular view of everything around it. Afterward, I headed back to my tent, which had an excellent view to the southeast, back toward Pecos. On these upper summits, I saw a deer grazing in the grasslands to my right.
The next day, I considered hiking south to El Capitan (8,085’). I couldn’t make out the approaches to the peak. Because I was concerned about safety and was alone, I decided to not take the chance. I decided to try Hunter Peak (8,366’) to the east. So, I headed back down the mountain to the trailhead. Once at the bottom, I refilled my water bottles and had lunch. With the midday heat beating down, I started on the Tejas Trail and then the Bear Canyon Trail. By now, it was 2pm. Adding up the remaining distance, elevation, difficulty of the trail, and return distance, I decided to forego Hunter Peak, and instead returned to Guadalupe Peak for the night. It was another great night at altitude.
The third day, I headed back down to my car. Instead of going through Pecos and Midland, I headed north to return to Dallas through Lubbock. It was a very barren drive, but very enjoyable.