Guadalupe Mountains National Park

August 22nd and 23rd

We reluctantly left Tuscson on Wednesday morning, heading east towards El Paso, Texas.  This would put us in position to drive to Guadalupe Mountains National Park the next morning.  The trip was uneventful, with the exception of seeing a rolled over vehicle by the side of the road and several other vehicles parked nearby.  All were on cellphones so, surprisingly, there was a signal, as this was in the middle of nowhere.  We stopped to check no one was hurt and headed on our way, fully expecting to see police, ambulance, or some other emergency vehicle on route.  After driving about 15 miles, we made a turn, having never seen anything.  Just a reminder of how isolated this area is, and not to expect help for awhile if something happens!

Thursday morning we drove about an hour and a half up to Guadalupe.  This park is located almost on the Texas/New Mexico border, about 30 miles south of Carlsbad Caverns.  The mountain range rises up suddenly over the desert, the highest part of the 50 mile long Guadalupe Range.  This range is one of the best examples of an ancient marine fossil reef.  Millions of years ago, this range was a reef under an ancient sea.  Over time, marine organisms and lime precipitated out of the sea water to form a 400 mile long, horseshoe-shaped Capitan Reef.  After the sea evaporated, the reef was covered over by sediment, but was re-exposed when the land was uplifted.  Guadalupe peak, at 8,749 feet, is the "top of Texas", the state's highest point.  There are still remnants of the reef that are buried, but the Apache Range and the Glass Mountains southeast and south of here have also been exposed.

We had been in the car for two days, so really wanted to hike in this park.  The park does not have any "scenic drives" through the area.  The primary road, route 62, skirts the eastern edge of the park.  You can certainly view the mountains from there, but there is more to see.  After going to the Visitor Center and viewing the movie on the park, we decided to take the 2.3 mile hike back into Smith Spring (couldn't do any other, given the name...).  This hike started down the road about a mile, after driving into the Frijole Ranch.  The 1870's ranch house was occupied from 1906 until 1942 by the Smith's.  It became a center for socialization, as the post office and a small school house was on the property.  They sold it to the Kincaid's, who eventually donated it to the park.  The property was special, in that it had a spring, the Frijole Spring, right outside the house, the Manzanita spring, which the Smith's dammed to use for irrigation, and the Smith Spring, located back in the valley.  Being in the desert, water was like gold.  The Smith's had a garden and grew fruit trees, which they took by wagon to Carlsbad, 60 miles away, to sell.

The hike was pleasant- some uphill, which allowed for great views over the desert.  You could spot the location of the spring from some distance away, as there were larger, green trees present.  In the area of the spring, the air was cool and it was shady.  The spring was running, creating a small waterfall.  The growth of trees included the alligator juniper, named for its bark, the Texas madrone, oaks and maples.  The madrone is rare and quite beautiful with its peeling bark, which reveals red skin underneath.  We spent a couple of hours on the trail, then walked a short nature walk near the Visitor Center.  This park has created a couple of handicap-accessible trails, allowing anyone to see more of the park.

Entrance to park

El Capitan 8085 feet

Frijole Ranch House

View from trail into Smith Spring

View of Guadalupe Mountain Range

Another mountain view

Trail entering the area of the spring

Running water at spring

Pool at Smith Spring

Water too cold?

Alligator cypress bark

Texas madrone

Manzanita Spring

Beautiful mountain view

We still had time to drive up to Carlsbad Caverns by sunset, which meant we could see the bats.  Carlsbad Caverns has a large population of bats, over 100,000, that spend the summer in the cave.  Each evening at sunset, the bats leave the cave in large swarms to consume huge numbers of insects.  The evening was threatening (that old Monsoon thing again) and the rangers almost cancelled the "show", but it held off.  From the amphitheater, you could see the opening of the cave.  At sunset, you began to see bats circling out of the cave.  According to the ranger, sometimes they come out all at once and sometimes they come out in smaller numbers over longer time.  That is what we saw, which was nice, but not as spectacular as we expected.  We left after about 1/2 hour for Carlsbad.  We planned to return the next day to tour the caves.