New Mexico: Carlsbad and Guadalupe Mountains

Our base for the first few days of this trip was located in Carlsbad, New Mexico on the border of Texas.  An uneventful three hour, nighttime drive from El Paso (besides the border patrol checkpoint 30 minutes outside the city...) brought us into one of the oil boom parts of the United States.  The unusual number of pickup trucks with various company names such as Halliburton in hotel parking lots quickly explained the high hotel rates we had noticed when booking our room (points to the rescue!).

The next morning finally allowed a chance to see the desert scenery as we drove to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  We had booked the morning tour of King's Palace online, which was good because the tour was in fact full even during our winter visit. The Ranger led tours allow visitors to access caves otherwise off limits, but some require crawling on your belly so if small spaces aren't your thing...pick a different one.

We were advised that we had arrived too late to start the Natural Entrance self guided tour.  It takes an hour, so if you want to combine that with your guided tour inside the caves make sure to arrive early.  We'd have to come back for the Natural Entrance another day.

Rock walls were visible through the glass as the elevator descended underground.  As our ears popped, we eyed a counter that displayed feet underground, rather than levels.  First 50, then 100, and on until we reached the end, 750 feet below ground. We exited the elevator into a large dark room (surprise!) and waited for our eyes to adjust to the dim lights. While waiting for the start of our tour, we perused the gift shop and visited the restrooms since an ice storm earlier in the month busted the pipes to the ones in the visitor center above.  

Soon, a ranger announced the the beginning of our tour and we lined up with forty or so others visitors. Mike, our ranger, gave a brief introduction and led us towards the King's Palace area of the cavern. Although it used to be open to self-guided tours, the park service closed it because people kept misbehaving and causing damage. Sigh. Now there are actually phones throughout the parts that still remain open for self-guided loops so that visitors may phone rangers to report (tattle) vandals or rule-breakers. If you know Ashley, you know she thinks these phones should be available throughout the national park system...for when people are trying to pet the wildlife. 

Now's a good time to help provide more perspective on what being in the caves is like because pictures don't fully do them justice.  First, the caves are not completely dark.  There is periodic lighting throughout that provides a faint soft light ambiance.  Second, the caves are cool and damp.  We both wore jackets and pants during our trips down into Carlsbad.  Next, there is a well defined path that is easy to follow and always lit to some degree. Lastly, the scale of the caverns was truly impressive - rooms could span hundreds of feet across or the ceiling stretch hundreds of feet above.  All in all, it was a truly unique cave experience that surprised both of us.

The tour included three stops where the ranger would discuss details about the geology, history, and mystery of the cave system. Several times he even turned out the lights leaving us in true darkness where nothing could be seen. It's hard to imagine the early explorers had no more than candle light.

The King's Palace area contains some of the the most decorated rooms in the cave system. You have to use your imagination to see some of the figures in the formations.  As with our experiences in other parks, the ranger led tour was a highlight of the trip. It was clear Ranger Mike put a great deal of research and effort into leading this tour, which made it one of the best ones we've taken so far. 

Following the tour, we adjusted to the sunlight topside and drove towards our second destination - Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas (Two Parks, One day!). Our afternoon plans consisted of a hike in McKitrick Canyon to the Pratt Cabin. Known as the prettiest spot in Texas, the canyon bursts with autumn colors in the Fall. However, since we visited in January the deciduous trees were now barren. The mostly flat trail meandered along and over mostly dry river beds, through desert landscapes, and into a pine forest. The abruptly changing ecosystem makes this canyon unique. It's not often we spot ponderosa pines, prickly pear cacti, and oak trees all clumped together.

Arriving at Pratt Cabin (about 2 miles into the canyon), we enjoyed our PB&J sandwiches at a picnic table in a peaceful setting. The town of Carlsbad leaves much to be desired restaurant wise, but does have a Wal-Mart which allowed us to pick up lunch supplies that morning.

After a relaxing lunch, we walked back down the trail to the parking lot. The approximately four and a half mile hike allowed us to continue to adjust to the altitude in preparation for tomorrow's climb to Guadalupe Peak. 

With another two hours of daylight not to be wasted, we stopped at the visitor center to ask the ranger about some suggestions for sunset photo opportunities. She pointed out some locations on a map while Ashley stamped her NPS Passport. We ultimately decided to visit the western edge of the park nearly an hour drive from the visitor center. 

Racing the sunlight to the salt basins, we traveled towards Dell City and turned onto a gravel road that contained some aggressive cattle grates that surprised our poor rental car. At the end, a small parking lot contained the trailhead to the sand dunes, which was only recently added to the Park. We didn't have time to hike all the way to the dunes since the area closes at sunset, but we walked a short ways to set up the tripod and enjoyed the panorama as the evening glow slowly crept along the horizon.

While the remoteness of this area lends to the beauty, it unfortunately meant we had more than an hour drive back to Carlsbad in the dark.   

For our second day, we got an early start since we planned an ambitious hike to the Top of Texas - Guadalupe Peak.  Guadalupe Peak is an 8.4 mile roundtrip hike that climbs 3,000 feet to a height of 8,750 feet, which makes it the highest point in Texas and lends to the nickname as the Top of Texas. This really excites Texans.

Energized from breakfast (and more likely from the coffee), we drove back to Guadalupe Mountains National Park and checked in with the ranger for today's weather and wind conditions. When we inquired whether there were any high wind concerns, she said "no more than normal." Hmm...

The parking lot was nearly full when we arrived at the trailhead around 9:15 so we parked in an RV only spot...rule breakers! Good thing there wasn't a tattle phone like in the caves.  An entire fraternity chapter from Texas Tech we'd later encounter on the trail may have explained the number of cars in the parking lot.

The trail immediately starts working itself uphill about a foot into the hike. To put this in perspective, there is only four miles to gain 3,000 feet in elevation so there's no room to waste.  The first half of the trail winds through typical desert landscape and the parking lot quickly becomes smaller below. The "mountains" we passed on the way in now resemble hills or mounds.

Eventually, the trail led us to the other side of the mountain. As we rounded the bend, we were met by a strong gust of wind and noticed the landscape now contained evergreens and patches of snow. From this point in the hike, the wind was our near constant companion. A third wheel, really. 

Legs now burning, we continued through the trees and snow ever upward. Once again, the landscape around us changed - now containing more grass and fewer trees. After crossing a small wooden bridge, we finally saw our destination - Guadalupe Peak. Although thankful to visualize our goal, it unfortunately seemed to be at least 1,000 feet higher than us. More climbing. 

Continuing along the trail, we encountered some icy patches, which is always a challenge for us Floridians. Those who already reached the top passed along words of encouragement that we were nearly there.

Just minutes from the top, streams of college aged boys began to pass us as they hiked back down the trail. The aforementioned fraternity had apparently completed their photo ops at the peak. 

We finally reached the top and completed the "must-dos" at the Peak: we got our photo taken next to the marker and signed the guest log, which was especially challenging since the wind continued to blow the pages. Using the term wind almost seems too friendly since the gusts were now strong enough to knock us over if unprepared. Although we initially planned to eat our sack lunches at the Top of Texas, we now opted to enjoy them on the hike back down the trail since open heights and storm force winds don't exactly present ideal picnic opportunities. 

The hike down the mountain seemed like a breeze (pun intended) compared to the climb up. We started to pass backpackers who planned on camping near the top that evening. Their large packs and smiles quickly quieted any complaints we may have voiced about the tough hike up the mountain.

We also passed a group of dayhikers who seemed underdressed given the high winds and falling temperatures; when we pointed out that they would be hiking back down in the dark, we were met with blank stares. Oh, well. We tried. 

After six hours of hiking (and lunching and photo taking), we arrived at our car. Dusty and tired and sore we slumped into our car for a rest to plan out how to use the remaining daylight. As you may have noticed, we really like to cram stuff in. 

We ventured to a roadside picnic ground that the ranger had also recommended the previous evening. It provided nice views of El Capitan, the edge of the Guadalupe Mountains, which glowed red in the setting sun.

This would be our last view of the Guadalupe Mountains.  Tomorrow we'd visit Carlsbad Caverns one more time before heading west to the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.