On Top of Texas!

When I said in my last post we were heading in the opposite direction, I wasn’t joking. On Friday, we were 830 feet below the surface in Carlsbad Caverns and 24 hours later we were at Guadalupe Peak, elevation 8751 ft., the highest point in Texas! Wooohoooo! Please note, there was no elevator available for this trip. Lol.

On Saturday, 3/11, we started our ascent from the campground a little after 8:00am. We had a clear, sunny day with temps in the 70’s. Lucky us! Especially since the next day started off so foggy you couldn’t even see the mountain and then there were so many college kids on spring break it looked like a conga line on the trail. Lol.

Switchbacks for the first couple miles. Campground is on the left. 

The trail to Guadalupe Peak is about 8½ miles and rated strenuous with a 3000 foot elevation gain. Unlike many summit climbs, this one does not require any crazy rock-climbing skills. That’s not to say it’s a total walk in the park. (Well, technically I guess it is. Lol.) There are sections where the narrow trail is literally carved out of the mountain side with steep drop offs = sweaty palms looking down.

Crossing the wood bridge. It's a looooong way down. :)

Hmmmm... please don't fall today.

Rog.... going up. 

Anyhow, there is not a lot to say about hiking up a mountain. It’s a whole lot of one foot in front of the other going up, up, up. Happy dance at the summit! And then a whole lot of one foot in front of the other going down, down, down. Lol.  Of course, the real reason we do this for the spectacular views along the way and since a picture is worth a 1000 words, I’m going save myself some typing. 😊

Pride Rock!
Kept looking for a mountain lion, but none showed.

Lovely view of the valley below.

Bark Beetle art!

OK, I confess. I have a crystal addiction. Lol. 

Wind sculpted pine tree.

We made it!!

Lunch with a view!

Solar corona.  Way cool. 

Clouds moving in as we descended in the afternoon.

From here we head to El Paso for a few days. We are going through Costco withdrawals and it’s time to do some serious grocery shopping.  I haven’t had a haircut since October so that is on the list too. I’m not particularly vain (notice my perfect makeup and designer clothes – NOT!) but it is hard for me to let a random stranger approach with scissors in hand. We’ll see.