On Wednesday I finished my site visit for work, went back to Van Horn for lunch and then trucked on over to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I've been here at least four times that I can remember, and summited Gaudalupe Peak twice. The first time with my brother in March 2009 and again with my friend Derrick in March 2012. My third and fourth trips here were already blogged about! Now here on my fifth visit I was aiming to reach Guadalupe once again, and this time it was solo.
I knew I wasn't going to attempt any hiking at high elevations in the afternoon I arrived because we're right in the middle of summer monsoon and afternoon thunderstorms occur almost every day. I perused the park map and brochure and was very interested to check out Smith and Manzanita Springs (duh, I love springs). The Smith Spring loop was about 2.5 miles roundtrip and I decided to go counter clockwise to swing by the lower Manzanita Spring first. Manzanita Spring was almost entirely surrounded by reeds and not much to see. You can hike around to the trickling outlet and while the views of the spring itself certainly aren't grand, they're situated in the foothills of a beautiful backdrop. The hike continues toward the Smith Canyon draw and you very quickly go from shrubby desert to wooded canyon slopes. Soon you're completely under the canopy of large madrone and pine trees (note that little madrone bonzai growing out of a boulder). The draw was bone dry but then I started to hear the trickling of water and all of a sudden a beautiful clear pool appeared with a tiny little waterfall next to large boulders and a great big tree. The spring is only guarded by a slim handrail so friendly remember to leave no trace and stay on the trail folks! A short stream extends beyond the first main pool, trickles down a few ledges and disappears underground just as fast as it arrived. I looked at my surroundings, half-expecting to see a mountain lion, and wondered just how many animals come to drink from those waters every night. I made my way through the rest of the loop and heard the rumblings of thunder so I picked up the pace to get back to my tent and throw its rain fly on. The rain never hit my campsite. The last two photos in this set were from my campsite, number 1 at Pine Springs campground. I almost convinced myself to check out Devil's Hall after my spring hike but decided to save my energy for the big hike up the peak in the morning. I ate goldfish, laid on the picnic table, and watched the Blue Grosbeak and Rufous-crowned Sparrows hop and sing around the campground instead.
Here are some critters from this first afternoon in the Guads. Robber Fly, Giant Agave Bug, tiny little ant that covered everything at my campsite, and a Texas Brown Tarantula caught crossing the road.
My big day was here. I woke up well before sunrise, got everything ready to hit the trail. Guadalupe Peak is the highest peak in Texas at 8,751 ft, the trail "is rated strenuous, with 3,000 feet of elevation gain. The round trip distance is 8.4 miles, and generally takes 6-8 hours". I'm a few years past my peak trail blazing days and feel a bit out of shape but I was eager to put my body to work.
The views got better and better as I hiked and I enjoyed reminiscing about my previous hikes on this trail as I passed recognizable features. I passed three parties on the way up, chatted with a few of those folks, and also enjoyed a nice long break at the meadow/campground about two-thirds of the way up where there were lots of birds and breezes to take in.
The views got better and better as I hiked and I enjoyed reminiscing about my previous hikes on this trail as I passed recognizable features. I passed three parties on the way up, chatted with a few of those folks, and also enjoyed a nice long break at the meadow/campground about two-thirds of the way up where there were lots of birds and breezes to take in.
I reached the peak in about 2.5 hours and felt great. I was all alone up there and knew I had about 15 minutes before the next group would catch up. I signed the hikers log, took a few photos in all the directions, and found a nice north facing ledge to do some relaxing and reflecting - But then I got stung on my leg by something that I never saw! I don't normally react severely to stings and bites but for safety's sake I decided to start hiking down right away. I didn't have any issues and was able to focus on photos of plants and flowers. I made it down in about 2 hours and the whole hike took just about 4 hours and 45 minutes, and I'm very proud of that. I'm no ultra-runner/hiker but it feels good to shave 1-3 hours off the average time. I changed my clothes, ate a few snacks, and got on the road back to Van Horn with a cheeseburger on my mind. I made one last stop at the roadside overlook to get a nice shot of El Capitan also. The prominent face of El Capitan often hides Gaudalupe Peak when approached from the south and the backside of El Capitan can be seen from the peak as the "mitten" shape in the third image below.
Flowers, trees, and a crazy fly from the hike up the mountain! I have all of these, and more, on iNaturalist.
Here's a fun throw back to 19 and 22 year old Stephen at the top of Guadalupe Peak. I just turned 30 in July and hope to climb Guadalupe Peak again when I'm 40.