Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

Our goal this morning was to find a better way around Carlsbad for tomorrow when we are in the motorhome.  Mission accomplished.  We found a truck route which bypasses most of the business district of Carlsbad.  On the way to Guadalupe the signs all tell us that there is no gas for 140 miles on the route we are taking tomorrow so we also scouted out a gas station that we could easily get into.  Mission accomplished.  Now we could get on with the true goal and that was seeing Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas.  Mission accomplished.

 

There was a cold front coming from the west over the Guadalupe Mountains.  That front brought high winds.  More about that later.

 

We stopped at the visitors center for a map.  Covid strikes again.  Only six people allowed inside the center and, of course, masks required.  The wind was whipping around and it was very chilly as we stood waiting our turn to enter the center.

This is the remnants of a  stagecoach stop  on the Butterfield Overland mail route.  The route ran from St. Louis to  San Francisco and would take 25 days to complete one way.  This is the only ruin of the originally built stagecoach stops.  It was in operation for eleven months...September 1858 through August 1859.

Look closely at this picture above my left shoulder and you will see a red centipede about six inches long.  We also saw a tarantula at the Pratt Cabin.   It was too quick for me to get a picture.  It was black, hairy, and about the size of my palm.    

We crossed this dry river bed six times in the 4.8 mile hike.  Only one time was there water to cross.  It seemed that the wind really blew when we were trying to cross the dry beds.  Sometimes it blew so hard that we would stand with our backs to the wind and brace ourselves with our trekking poles.  This is the first hike we had used trekking poles and are so glad we had them.  They made us more secure as we hiked the trail which was definitely not smooth.  It was filled with rocks an sometimes boulders.  Before we had walked very far on the trail, I had to take off my hat because it kept blowing off!

It was good to have an arrow pointing us in the right direction on the trail.

Flag at the trailhead building.  I don't believe there was ever a time today that it was limp.

We encountered this snake on the way to the trailhead.  Fortunately, we were in the car.

As you can see, I am not wearing my hat

This is the entrance to the Pratt Cabin.  We had made the first 2.4 trek.  The cabin was built in 1931-1932 by a man named Wallace Pratt.  He discovered the beauty of McKittrick Canyon (through which the trail led us), brought the land and built the cabin for his family as a summer get-away.  In 1960 he donated the cabin and land to the National Park Service and it became a part of Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

We sat on the front porch and ate our snack and just soaked in the view.  We looked into the windows and could see how the cabin was furnished.  It was very simple but nice.

I had purchased a selfie stick so we could take pictures of ourselves on our trip.  This one is on the front porch of Pratt Cabin.

This is a madrone tree.  There were several along the trail.  This one had red blooms on it

The tree sheds its bark as this tree shows.

We felt very good about ourselves that we managed to hike the 4.8 mile trail.  Near the end, my knee was feeling the hike but we made it.  Guadalupe Mountain NP is not easy to see because there is only a road to the visitor's center and to a trailhead or two.  To see this park, you have  to hike.  We took the shortest hike most of the rest are much longer.  So glad we could complete the hike and get to see part of the park.  The temperatures were cool thanks to the cold front that came in.


We left Guadalupe and stopped by Carlsbad Caverns so I could buy a Christmas ornament and get my National Park Passport book stamped.  When we were there last night, the visitor's center was not open for me to do that.

We enjoyed seeing both parks but were tired from the hike.  We drove through a Wendy's for a frosty, drove back to camp and I took a nap.  This KOA sells BBQ suppers and will deliver them to your camp site.  We had one delivered and it was very good and the best part was that I didn't cook this evening.  Carol got BBQ pork, pinto beans, and potato salad.  I got a BBQ pork sandwich and potato salad.  
When we got back to camp we turned off the air conditioner.  It probably had not run all day because the temps were in the 70's.  Tonight it is suppose to get down to 50.  It will be good sleeping!

Tomorrow we pack up and drive to Davis Mountains State Park in Texas.  It won't be a very long drive so we can take our time packing up.  We have been told that the park is very nice so we are looking forward to seeing the park, mountains, and old Fort Davis.

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