Texas's High Point - "Guadalupe Peak"

Texas's high point is Guadalupe Peak at 8,749 feet, and is located in the most northwest corner of Texas in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

After staying the night in Santa Rosa in New Mexico, we spent all Monday 16th June driving south through New Mexico (stopping in Roswell and watched all the tourists checking out the UFO Alien tourist traps, and also seeing the Carlsbad Caverns - a must do if you are down that way as the huge underground caverns were larger and more beautiful that I had ever experienced).

We arrived around 6pm at the Pine Springs Campground which is located next to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park visitor centre. The campground is also the trailhead for the hike to the summit of Guadalupe Peak. It was a beautiful warm night as we set up camp with the Guadalupe mountains looming above us, including El Capitain whose more famous rock face it viewable from the road (see last picture below). After a hot dog dinner, we packed our backpacks for the hike as we planned to be on the trail by 5am the next morning to beat the heat. This was when we noticed we were being stalked by a skunk who actually circled out tent and campsite obviously looking for food. Paranoid about being sprayed by the shunk, we keep following it with our torches trying to scare it away. The last thing I wanted was a tent sprayed with shunk which smelled horrible and probably wouldn't wash out. Luckily it went away so to be sure it wouldn't come back we put everything not in the tent in the car.

As we put the last of our things in the car at 9.30pm, Mark locked the door of the car. As soon as he closed the locked door and asked where his backpack was with the keys in it was (the backpack which I had just put in the car), we knew we were doomed. With no way to break into our rental car, and all the hiking and water in the car we couldn't go hiking at 5am tomorrow morning! So we made the hike to the camp host who luckily (but reluctantly!) made the call to the Park Ranger. He came and was able to break into the car for us and we were saved thankfully and for free! FYI - you don't tip Park Rangers as they aren't allowed to received money.

At 4am the next morning, Tuesday 17th June, we woke up and got ready for the hike. Our procrastinating and unorganized nature meant we weren't on the trail until 5.30am! From the trailhead at the parking lot, we hiked along a well marked trail which continuously switchbacked up the hill. At 6am, as we stopped for some breakfast bars, we were able to watch the sunrise over the other mountains. Quite stunning! Continuing on, the trail continued to switchback up the mountain slowly gaining in elevation, which made it easier than just climbing directly up. After a couple of hours we thought we spied the peak in front of us and thought we were making good time. It was just a false summit - the first of two before you get to the summit.

We finally arrived at the summit at 8.30am, which afforded us great views of the back of El Capitain, and other mountain ranges. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining across the blue sky though it was starting to get hot. The forecast was for the temperatures to be in the low 90's today. The summit was marked with a pointy moument which commemorates the 100th annivesary of the founding of American Airlines through the efforts of people who pioneered the mail services through the area. After a snack, signing the register and a few photos, we headed back down to beat the heat. We arrived back to the trailhead just after 11am. This was the highest high point we had climbed so far on our quest and one of the most interesting and beautiful.