2023 – Late April – Carlsbad Caverns NP, Guadalupe Mountains NP

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Carlsbad Caverns

Wildflowers, along the backroads to our next destination, announce that spring is in full swing.  Here in Texas it has been on display for a while.  Bluebonnets, the Texas state flower, are on their way out, replaced by paintbrush, primrose, and blanket flowers.  There are more, but I only see them as blankets of buttery yellows, through oranges on the color palette.  Other places have pinks, whites and reds.  Our first hour’s drive is full of exciting colors.

As I have mentioned before, it takes us two days to get out of Texas.  This time is no different.  Carlsbad Caverns is approximately 500 miles distant.  Fortunately, for us Guadalupe Mountains is only an additional 45 miles down the road.  We are getting a two-fer of national parks on this trip.

We are looking forward to using the camper for the first time this year.  I take two days to clean water tanks and the camper before loading up essentials for the brief, five-night trip.  We are on the road by mid-morning, late enough to miss commuter traffic.

100 miles into our trip, passing through Mason, TX we notice a distinct change in the flora.  The blankets of flowers shrink to plots.  Desert flora takes over, prickly pear cactus, yuccas, and bunch grasses.  Continuing west, even those become patchy, red soil/gravel accented by bits of green takes over.  A reminder of my time in New Mexico.  The land is undeveloped, no oil pumps, no wind turbines, just a paved road running through the wild west.

The road becomes more boring joining the interstate.  Hills are sliced into pieces, their limestone forms walls that we speed through.  The removed limestone fills depressions in the ground making the road level, and straight.  The median has a few wildflowers, but the road’s shoulders are a mown expanses of grass.  The only positive of this part of I-10 is the 80-mph speed limit.  We continue cruising at 65, constantly being passed.

Approaching Fort Stockton, oil jacks, (pumps) make their appearance.  Some are pumping, but a majority stand idle.  Others appear abandoned in place.  Along mesa edges, scores of wind turbines spin.

We set up at an RV Park, close to I-10 but far enough that the constant traffic noise melts into the background.  A strong wind keeps the huge American flag snapping like a whip, through the afternoon.  Low humidity makes the 80+ degree temperatures very comfortable.  Metal statues of native Americans riding horses, are on a hill on the opposite side of I-10.

It is still over 80 outside as we start our after-dinner exercise.  We make five laps around the park.  On the second lap we notice a cloud forming to the north and west of us.  It’s not a real cloud, it doesn’t look like smoke, it’s just this low wall of something brownish that doesn’t look quite right.  On the third lap the ‘cloud’ is somewhat closer, even closer still on the fourth lap.  As we approach the camper starting the next lap we see whisps of dust blowing between us and the dark terrain in the distance.  Just as we stop to decide what to do it hits us – dust – and lots of it.  We dive into the camper closing all the windows.  The camper starts rocking from the gusts.  As the wall of dust builds, the sun becomes orange, before disappearing into the howling curtain of dust.  Earlier today, I observed a clear view of I-10 traffic disappearing over the distant horizon.  Now I can only see the distance of 8-power poles running parallel to the interstate.  Distant vehicle headlights, first appear red, then finally white, as they approach.  Even with the camper windows closed our kitchen counter accumulates a light film of dust.  The Weather Channel reports 30 mph winds with higher gusts.  We sit inside reading to pass the time.  Before going to bed, I go outside to put down two of the camper jacks stabilizing the camper from the gusty winds.

We finally fall asleep sometime later, the wind is still blowing at midnight, but not quite as ferocious.

The next morning, we wake to 40-degree temperatures.  Everything around us seems normal, people are out walking dogs, visiting, driving down the interstate – normal.

Cavern entrance

Putting on our coats, we pack up for our drive to Carlsbad, New Mexico.  Our drive takes us through the Permian Basin, the largest petroleum basin in the United States.  The road is 139 miles of Permian Basin.  Most of it is under construction, turning a two lane road into a four lane road.  No wildflowers, lots of power poles, many pump jacks, some working, others not.  We pass refining stations and lines of single garage roofs joined together, no walls, just roofs.  They serve as covered RV parking areas for the local workers, all the spots are filled with RV’s.  Those garage complexes are the closest thing we see resembling a town.      

The entrance
looking out

We stop at the Carlsbad RV park, checking out our site for the night.  We are too early to check in so we head off to the National Park, 15 miles away.  The highway is called the National Parks Hwy, or US 62, the road runs to El Paso.   We will use only the next 60 miles of the highway, 15 to Carlsbad Caverns and the next 45 to Guadalupe Mountain National Park.  The road between Carlsbad, NM and the Guadalupe Mountains follows along the edge of the Permian Basin.  We ascend 800’ on to a ridge, to the entrance of the caverns.  Along the way we weave back and forth along ridges with ocotillo and yuccas decorating the rock covered valleys.  Arriving at the top we have a broad, expansive view of the Permian Basin.  The geology is beyond the scope of this blog, do a search on the Permian Basin for much more detail.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Tickets are needed to enter the caverns.  Stopping in the visitor center we see long lines of people queuing up to enter the caverns.  Entrance is based on the time of entry, spaced one hour apart, with a limited number of tickets for each entrance time.  You can stay in the caverns as long as you want.  I visited the caverns in 1985, I remember the long walk down through the entrance, but not much else.  Nicida has also visited the caverns several years ago, remembering about the same detail as me.

Our plan is to return tomorrow, Monday, hoping for fewer visitors.  Carlsbad Caverns is handled differently than the other caverns in the park system.  There is a ranger-guided tour one may take to see a specific section of the caverns, but the caverns in general, employ a self-guided visitor trail.  It is paved, but the ‘natural entrance’ is quite steep.  The caverns are also different in that using the self-guided trail we can take the time to set up our tripods and use our cameras.  One caveat, we must stay out of the way of the other visitors.  We make full use of this practice, we stop and shoot whatever catches our eye. 

Our ‘Monday’ plan works.  There is virtually no line for our designated time.  Following the trail to the natural entrance, where the bats exit the cavern, we meet a ranger.  He gives us instructions; do not touching anything, nothing to drink except water, talk in ‘library voices’ and have a good time.  There are no bats flying at this time, instead there is a throng of cave swallows.  They flit in and out of the cave entrance, catching dinner on the wing.  We hear them singing as we pass by the entrance, into the caverns.  Fog rolls in through the entrance dissipating as it descends into the cavern.  As we descend further the chatter between swallows wanes, replaced by echoes of our footsteps and dripping water.  Many photos are made before we move on.  It takes us over two hours to pass through the 1.25 miles and 750’ descent to the Big Room.  From here the cavern becomes almost completely level.  We take almost another two hours studying the formations here.  Each of us is awe struck at what we see.  The formations are millions of years old.  We see stalactites, stalagmites, curtains, soda straws, popcorn and several other formations being amazed by each.  We could spend many more hours, but our empty stomachs tell us otherwise.  A quick ride in an elevator takes us back to the visitor center.  After starting our morning with strong winds and drizzle, we exit the cavern into bright sunshine and warm temperatures.  In the end, we determined we spent 4-hours in the caverns.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Our Campsite

We pause in the parking lot for lunch before departing for Guadalupe Mountains NP.  National Parks Hwy loosely follows an ancient exposed reef, which forms foothills, and mountains, of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, the Guadalupe Mountains National Park and the Lincoln National Forest.  We are in the high desert, between 3,000’ and 5,000’ in elevation.  People are coming and going from the Guadalupe Mountains visitor center as we arrive, most are asking for hiking suggestions.  The park has over 80 miles of trails.  We are here to hike the Guadalupe Peak Trail.  It is a round trip, 8.4 mile in-out trail, leading us to the highest peak in Texas at 8,751’.  The elevation gain is 3,000’.  The trail description says to plan on 6 – 8 hours for the hike.  We have a long-term goal for a future trip, this is the first piece of that plan.  We want to see how we handle hiking at this elevation and this much elevation gain.  More on this later.  We speak with the cashier, telling him our plans for tomorrow.  He cautions us to watch the wind.  Start early, planning to be on our way back by noon.  He’s hiked this trail several times.  He’s comfortable with winds up to 50 mph, but no more.

Trail start

I have reservations for the campground which is essentially a parking lot with 13 oversized spots for RV’s.  A separate area is set up for tents with another 20 sites.  Reservations are suggested/needed to stay here.  There are not a lot of campgrounds nearby, so I want to stay within the park.  The trail head for multiple trails starts from the campground, very convenient.  I had to returning to recreation.gov looking for an empty site for each night we stayed.  Persistence paid off; I make our first night’s reservation a few weeks before I spotted an opening for our second night.

After setting up, and enjoying dinner, we relax.  We listen to birds singing, observe clouds floating over the mountains, and watch the mountain shadows creep across the landscape.  The only manmade sound we hear is the occasional jet passing overhead.  We put our cold weather sleeping bags together, expecting low 40’s overnight.   We also prepare our gear for tomorrow’s hike to the top of Texas.

Enroute to the top

Our alarm wakes us at 6.  We have to heat our oatmeal the old fashion way, in a kettle on the stove.  The eastern sky is lighting up.  We are on the trail at 758.  The first 1.5 miles is steep, with loose rock and gravel.  Wildflowers pop up in random locations along the trail.  On the south side of the mountain, we spot many cacti and yucca.  Ascending, pinion, juniper, and small pine trees appear on the north side of the mountain.  Rocks along the trail become the size of my fist.  Winds become more prevalent with high gusts hitting us along the tops of ridges.  Overall, the trail is well marked, although I pull out my GPS receiver to verify which trail to take when another trail appears.

The top of Texas

At 1120 we reach the top, 3 hours and 22 minutes from our start.  We see the five hikers that passed us on the hike up.  They are enjoying the views.  We are tired, relieved, and happy to have made it.  The wind blows for a few minutes then stops, we find a place for lunch.  Using our phones, we make photos.  Last night we decided to keep our baggage to a minimum, leaving our real cameras behind.  The view is astounding.  I had no idea that we could have such a view in west Texas.  We have over a 270° view of low land, we see ridges, irrigated farm land, and sand dunes.  Oil rigs in the Permian Basin are far to the south and east.  We look down on the top of El Capitan the lone peak south of us, topping out at 8,000’.  The main body of mountains are to the north and east of us.  Being on the highest peak we can see over these mountain tops too.

El Capitan

We start down, wanting to beat the impending wind.  The large outcroppings of rocks at the top are harder to negotiate on the way down.  Maybe, because we are using new muscles.  Continuing, we pass enthusiastic hikers heading for the top.  We encourage them.  The middle of the hike is easier, but the bottom is hard, loose gravel and steeper conditions cause our boots slip in the gravel.  Somewhere in the last quarter mile, a pebble finds its way into my shoe, forcing me to stop to remove it.   2 hours and 40 minutes later we arrive at the trail head, sore but happy.  A successful hike.

I start feeling cramps in my thighs and calves later in the evening, as a precaution I take some Ibuprofen.  There is little room to jump out of bed in the camper when a cramp starts.  We both sleep well this evening.

The next morning we sleep to 8, waking to a beautiful, warm, sunny, day.  We enjoy the morning eating breakfast at the outside picnic table, watching others prepare for their chosen hike.  On the way out we head just a bit further west to one of the picnic areas we could see from the peak, along the National Parks Hwy.  The view is magnificent, El Capitan in front, with Guadalupe Peak towering above and behind.

El Capitan and Guadalupe Mountains

Heading home

Our drive home starts by traveling through the Permian Basin.  Most of the 190 miles we travel today, are on different roads, heading towards the east.  We see more of the pump jacks, refining stations and drilling rigs.  Some of the jacks are within a stone’s throw of each other.  We end our day at San Angelo State Park.  The campsites are open, and far apart, we see only another six occupied sites on this weeknight.  After dinner, we walk towards the Official Texas State Longhorn Herd.  There is a large brush filled area for them to hide in.  So large that we cannot see any Texas Longhorns.  Fortunately for us there is an area with bison right next door.  We follow a herd of a 20 bison as they forage along the road, they are on one side of the fence, we on the other.

The next morning we are on our way towards home.  Staying on two lane roads we see the return of wildflowers, ranchland, and farmland.  Patches of yellows, oranges, pinks, reds and whites grow larger as we continue east.  Little green sprouts pop out of the chocolate brown earth in organized rows, resembling lane markers on an athletic track in the recently cultivated farmland.  We have exited oil country.  We have entered Hill Country.

The road to San Saba is devoid of traffic.  We pass a huge orchard entering town.  A sign and an open gate announce the San Saba River Pecan Company is open. We do a 180 to see what they have.  The shop is filled with pecan related items.  Bags of whole, cracked, and shelled pecans wait to be picked up and taken home.  There is pecan candy, preserves, pie filling, and toppings, to name a few.  We find out that 10,000 pecan trees make up their orchard.  We buy shelled pecans, and with the pecans are given a recipe for pecan pie.  Pecan pie is added to my list of projects.  We also pick up pecan coffee and Cranberry Chili Pecan Preserves.  Our last item, a pecan turtle, barely makes it out of the parking lot. Yummy. 

Our final stop is Colorado Bend State Park.  It is on the Texas version of the Colorado River, which originates in Lubbock, flows through Austin and empties into the Gulf of Mexico.  The river is quite small at Colorado Bend SP.  Speaking with a park ranger we find out the water is very low.  Too low to canoe or kayak.  This part of Texas has been, and is in the middle of a prolonged drought, explaining the low water.  We tour the small camping area, putting it in our back pocket for another trip.  Plan to do a trip during the week, the park ranger informs us.  This park is fully reserved every weekend for the next six months.

Returning home we unpack the camper, getting ready for our normal life back home.  We are up to 33 National Parks of the list of 63.  Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains NP were the last of the close parks.  Serious traveling is needed for the rest of the parks.  This was a good trip.

I hope I have inspired some of you to get out to see these places.

Thank you for stopping by,

Mark