Guadalupe Mountains National Park Trip
Before leaving Texas we knew that we’d want to explore the National Park boasting the tallest peak in the state, basically to “conquer Texas”, as Hanz likes to say. Our planning and scheming enabled us to jot it down for a Thursday to Sunday trek directly prior to our last weeks. We packed our backpacking bags, got our just add water food packs, and checked all the necessities. For this sort of trip we made sure we had at least two packs of food per meal plus snacks. Mountain House chicken fajita bowl and their chicken and mash-potatoes are definitely the way to go. Lots of protein and super filling, with an added plus with the ability to add some spice for Hanz in the form of hot sauce in a travel shampoo bottle. Marla avoids that bottle like the plague.
We were all set until … insert dramatic pause with a dan dan daaaaaan chime … the Monday before the trip Marla awakens Hanz with a dreaded cough. Which of course progresses to a low fever and lethargy. The perfect recipe for camping and hiking … except not. In an effort to salvage the camping trip Marla downed the recommended limit of Theraflu packets (have to be careful with all the acetaminophen), slept all of Monday, and started to at least not have a fever on Tuesday. By Wednesday we realized plans would have to be adjusted. Hanz made a brilliant suggestion to leave on Friday instead. Delaying the trip by a day was the only option that enabled us to both, not attempt to execute on a trip partially sick and still getting to “conquer Texas”.
The one day delay worked wonders and by Friday we were geared up and ready to go. In order to get to the National Park at a reasonable time we headed out the door of our Austin apartment at 6:30 AM. Hanz, being the champion he is, drove the full 8 hours to Guadalupe Mountains. This drive was decently uneventful until Google informed us of traffic ahead and re-routed us to almost El Paso. Despite this re-route, the driving time was about the same and we got amazing views of El Capitan (not to be confused with the one in Yosemite) and Guadalupe Peak as we approached the park entrance. We’d recommend taking the southern route of Interstate 10 to Texas 54 North to US 62 East.
Ambling into the park at around 2:30 Mountain time (yes that was an unexpected time change) we weren’t concerned as previously the park website stated the Pine Springs camp ground usually didn’t fill up, even on weekends. That is now decidedly not the case. By the time we made it to the park, the rangers were arranging overflow camping in one of the group sites. It was a find a site still available or find somewhere else situation.
We booked it over to group campsite 2 and found a group of college aged guys setting up one massive tent in the main camping area, but luck was on our side. Off to the side of the main camping area was a smaller one tent nook. We don’t think we set our packs down faster in our lives. A few minutes after we’d set our packs down and Hanz went to pay the nightly fee, another group of people came by to see if there was any space to pitch their tent and ended up having to forgo camping for the night. We exchanged some nice karma points for this camping spot.
The hustle was well worth it to get that last spot. We pitched our tent, set up our camping chairs, and enjoyed the sunset. That’s when the true attractions of the evening appeared: the stars filling the night sky. Dazzling and bright we spent a good 30 minutes to an hour identifying what constellations we could, (Orion and the big dipper were the main classic references) and simply appreciating the ones we couldn’t. It was surprisingly hard to pick out constellations given the plentiful amount of stars visible due to our super low light pollution location. It was a stunning vista. We felt both amazed and exhausted once we were too cold to remain outside the tent any longer. A quick brushing of teeth, snuggling into sleeping bags, then snuggling into each other when it got cold at night, and before we knew it morning had arrived.
Slight disaster had stuck during the night, because adventures should never be too easy right? A water bottle Marla placed near her clothes had leaked a decent amount during the night and much of her hiking clothing got damp. Talk about a cold almost shower. On the plus side everything ended up drying out during breakfast and the hike. This enforced one of the camping basics the hard way, make sure water bottles are tightly closed and away from clothes in the tent.
The hike up Guadalupe Peak was marvelous. With numerous switchbacks and sudden gusts of wind the climb was strenuous but enjoyable. Hanz set the pace for our assent and carried the day pack with food and water. We both carried hiking poles to help maintain our balance on more uneven ground. The start of the hike from the Pine Springs trail head was quite cool in the morning but heated up as the sun increased in intensity. Sleeves were rolled up and pant legs buttoned into capris as we worked our way up to “around the bend”. Once you make it around the bend be prepared for wind. Sudden chilly gusts were a big surprise and an incentive to increase the pace. While tracking through the north facing forested slope sleeves were unrolled, capris unbuttoned back to pants, sweaters and jackets put on. The intense wind was no joke and persisted all the way up to the summit.
Once the summit was in-sight one cross over of the trail freaked a few other climbers out. It seemed like you were stepping off the ledge of a cliff and off the trail. But with our trusty poles we were able to scramble over the ledge and continue along the now mostly sheer rock trail. A few hikers that had been hesitant to cross followed our lead and trailed us up to the peak. The peak had plenty of space for people to enjoy the view, take pictures/selfies, and generally savor the accomplishment of “conquering Texas”. We did a couple rounds of pictures with the marker at the peak and then appreciated the view while munching on some trail mix. With the rest and refresh at the summit complete we descended. We completed the round trip in 5 hours and 30 minutes.
At the end of this marvelous journey, we picked a picnic table under a tree and proceeded to cook and enjoy our well deserved meals. All the while sharing our favorite parts of the hike and the observations we made, from other hikers and their approaches, to vegetation and state of the trail in its different parts. Because sharing is caring and bonds people. Sharing is caring.
The next item in our schedule was to get to Ft. Stockton to spend the night before resuming the drive the following morning back to Austin. So we buckled up and drove to Ft. Stockton. It’s a straight up cray cray adventure. The part of the road that we avoided originally due to traffic on our way to the National Park wasn’t looking that busy, so we decided to take it when returning. This resulted in experiencing one of the most stressful drives ever.
Think papaya sized rocks and parts of machinery flying off or dropped by gigantic trucks carrying all sorts of equipment and construction materials from a lot of mining fields along the road. Literally flying off of the trucks right in front of us going 75 mph. Literally. Luckily Hanz was able to use his Mexican defensive driving skills and avoided the aforementioned projectiles. As well as dealing with being sandwiched between trucks. We did suffer one small casualty when a small rock darted towards our windshield and cracked it a little bit, but honestly, this felt like complete success. At the end, we were able to get to Ft. Stockton safe and sound, but hungry.
Quick showers were in order and then we used google to find the only non-fast food restaurant still open at 9:30 PM. It was a fantastic Mexican place where Hanz used his Spanish and Marla made a valiant attempt until stumbling over corn versus flour tortillas. The plates were huge, the tortillas (corn of course) were hot, and they had horchata agua fresca. So good was the horchata that Marla had to take some to go for the next morning. After the food adventure we collapsed into bed and slept like babies until early the next morning. We had the final stretch to return home in front of us and were powered by a breakfast of Texas shaped waffles at the hotel. The rest of the drive was thankfully uneventful, we even stopped at Fredericksburg for a quick lunch. The trip ended when we made it back home in time to pack for our second of three trips to Mexico.
