Guadalupe Mountains national Park

Just an hour drive south of Carlsbad Caverns is Guadalupe Mountains national Park. Never heard of it? Most people haven’t. It’s located right on the Texas, New Mexico border and Carlsbad caverns is actually located within the Guadalupe mountains, but they are two separate national parks

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, established in 1972, preserves a 260- to 270-million-year-old fossil reef and includes the highest point in Texas, Guadalupe Peak, at 8,751 feet. The park features diverse landscapes, including deserts, canyons, and forests, and offers hiking, backpacking, and wildlife viewing opportunities.

This national park is pretty undeveloped and there are not very many hiking trails, but there was one that we really wanted to do called Devils Hall. It was a 4.2 mile round-trip. We started at 5800 feet and hiked across the desert for about a mile before we made it to a wash (a river with no water). From there, we had to hike in the wash crossing several boulders and through a canyon to get to the waterfall section. The total ascent was 729 feet. Don’t get too excited this is the desert and there is no water coming down the waterfall. It’s a natural staircase that was created by the water when it does run. But the stair steps are big and at awkward heights and a little bit slippery with all the dust. After we made it up the staircase, we got to the devil’s hall, the hall itself is a narrow passage with steep, limestone walls, closing in on you.

We have been at sea level for so long that this hike felt great to actually have some hills and rocks to climb over. On the way back, we had to descend that staircase however, we all decided we were going to walk along the ledge instead of trying to climb down the staircase backwards. Everyone made it across and then it was my turn. I have such a fear of falling even though we were maybe 15 feet off the ground it freaked me out, but Mike made me push through it, and somehow after 10 minutes. I finally made it across that stupid ledge. I put an arrow in a picture of the staircase where you can see the ledge we crossed. The picture doesn’t give enough detail for you to see how scary it was. I swear the ledge is only the width of my shoe.

After the hike, we stopped at McKitrick Canyon and the Frijole Ranch. The canyon was just a pull off with some information and a short hiking trail and the Ranch was all closed up so we weren’t able to see the old house on the ranch.

Adding these two national parks were up to a total of 22 parks that we have seen. More to come!

This was our last stop in New Mexico from here. We head over to Arizona.Læs mere