Good morning! Look here we are headed into Texas and we're going to the Guadalupe Mountain National
Park which is just up ahead on the highway- you can see the mountains in the distance
and there's a pretty little Texas sign that I'm going to show you. It's a lovely morning,
we've just left Carlsbad hope you're able to check out our videos from our adventures in Carlsbad
and now we're headed to Guadalupe Mountain National Park and we're going to end up
in El Paso today and those mountains in the distance is Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
So we made it to Guadalupe Mountain National Park. We're at the Pine Springs Visitor Center
and I was really surprised they're limiting access inside the building. Sorry the light- the sun is
really bright- they're limiting access inside the building so there was kind of a line to talk to
the park ranger. All I wanted was a map. I wanted to find out some information about the park so we
had to kind of stand there and wait a little while. So there's restrooms and picnic tables-
so at this spot they have some campgrounds all the campgrounds are full. This park is mostly
back country camping and hiking there are no scenic drives they said other than the main
highway through the park. So we're going to take a couple of small hikes and then later on today
we're headed to El Paso. So at this park they also have the tallest peak in Texas it's about 8
700 feet I don't know exactly I have to look it up again - probably one of these tall peaks behind me
I will take you to that trail head but we're not going to be able to do that hike today we're not
prepared for a full day hike but I'll show you a couple of the smaller trails and what to expect
I'm going to start here at the pinery trail 0.67 miles round trip from the visitors center
this is the first place we're going to visit today
this is definitely a park you're going to want to visit in the cooler months of the year or
you're going to want to get here really really early because it's going to heat up really fast
so if you walk from the visitors center basically what you have here is the ruins of a stage stand
there was a station here built in 1858 that was part of the mail route that went all the way to st
it says the butterfield overland mail route from St Louis to San Francisco
and it was abandoned a year later when they changed to the Davis Mountain route
now there is a stop right off the freeway that goes here so you know you didn't even
really have to walk here from the visitor center but that's what there is to see
at the end of this hiking trail from the visitor center so we'll go over and look at what's left of
the wall it's behind me and that's it so that's what you can find here at this particular hike
i don't know my geology but those rocks don't really look like they were meant to stand the
test of time they're some very flat pieces of rock that they were able to stack together
with mud i don't know if there's a some form of old concrete in between those rocks
but as you can see they're having to hold it up to keep it upright then there's a secondary structure
that you can walk to that i'm headed down to now and then there's a wash right behind it
with a bright white rock probably get some water certain times of the year
so the second rock structure we're not even sure if it's real or if it's
reconstruction there was no mortar of any kind in between the rocks it was just stacked rocks
oh okay my husband saw a sign that said it was reconstructed so i guess it was
so if you have about two to three hours for a nice hiking trail the park ranger actually recommended
Mckittrick canyon and it's fairly level maybe goes up about 800 feet over the course of two and a
half miles but he said that you end up in a nice cabin and they actually have like rocking chairs
sounds like a really nice place to like take your lunch uh it's a little more time than we're
willing to give on a single hiking trail today i'll try to look up some photographs of the area
and post them here on the video and i apologize for my lack of fitness
i am tired and uh carlsbad caverns has me a little beat from yesterday but anyway I'll
show you what we find as we explore a couple different areas so just for exploration's sake
we decided to take the trail by the visitors center that goes to the campground don't really
know how far it is I don't know what to expect we're just gonna wander and see what we find
so this is nice they actually have a handicap accessible campsite right here
now these were all reserved they're full I mean so there's no openings we weren't planning on camping
on this trip anyway it's pretty obvious we don't know what we're doing because
you could have driven here and we decided to walk from the visitor center just to see what was here
looks like a primitive campsite
for some beautiful views this is the type of park for quiet and solitude
so after walking through the campground that's from the visitors center the beginning trailheads
to the main hiking trails here at the park can be found here i know i've got a little dirt spot on
my lens i'm trying to avoid but anyway so we're gonna just hike for a while and see what we find
we're definitely not gonna make it the whole way and this is late march and it's already pretty
warm out here so bring plenty of water if you do any of these hikes so the first intersection
this is basically all trails go up this way except for tejas it goes that way
so we decided to walk straight towards the trail
that heads off towards guadalupe peak the tallest peak in texas
and god bless a few shady trees on the trail
okay we made it probably half a mile maybe just short of a half a mile from the trailhead and
it just keeps on going up you can see the path that you can see some people hiking
if you're into birding and you know that bird call i would love to know what that was
absolutely beautiful so we're pretty sure we hiked over a mile from where we parked
but from the trailhead you know if you were able to drive all the way up to the trailhead and park
i'm guessing is a half a mile pretty much up up and away
uh but from the visitors center parking lot at least a mile now when i get home i always try to
see if i can map it and tell you exactly how much it is although sometimes i'm not successful
so if i have it i'll let you know we're gonna go to one other area that's an easy hike to show you
what's here this is definitely um a backcountry type of a place it's very pretty so now we're
stopping at the freeholy ranch stop and we're gonna eat some lunch they have some nice covered
areas little covered picnic tables here we brought some food there is nowhere to eat for miles
and miles carlsbad or el paso are the closest facilities so you need to pack your lunch if you
come to guadalupe mountain national park i hope you can hear me because there's a little breeze
we're gonna stop and get some bite to eat so on the map this was called the frijolo ranch history
museum and it does look like there's some historic structures here behind me so we're gonna go check
that out and then hike to manzanita spring i don't know if there's any water there or not
there's also smith spring and i'm not sure how far that is uh we'll assess that after we get started
this is the most complete remnant of early farming in the guadalupe mountains
it was settled in the 1870s we're gonna check it out it's pretty cool
the spring is in this enclosure protected and then
this enclosure right here
but this is beautiful when the trees are green
i wonder if at times they allow you to go inside it did appear to be slightly
furnished but right now it's locked and it says it's currently being restored i think like
the outside they're doing some restoration work on it so we can't go inside
he has a plan
i have a cellar here behind the structure this is extremely well preserved and it makes it even
extra lovely to have the water running and the sound of the water running through this area
i have a little orchard here with a few different fruit trees planted some really tall grasses
looks like they have it the water is
in very specific paths dug in this trench from the spring to each of these trees
probably giving a very good example of how they used to irrigate
you can see how green and lush it is right through this area and so the spring from that ranch house
was dammed up right here to ensure availability of water
for john smith who ranched here who developed a ranch in the early 1900s
okay so we're continuing on this trail to the smith spring
it's flat however there's a lot of loose rock on this part of the walkway
this seems a little longer than we were expecting but it's quite a few people making this loop
so i'm not sure the exact distance this is a pretty area it heads down a little closer to
the ravine and it's got all this beautiful growth overhead a little bit of shade for a
little respite if you need it it is hot uh looks like this loop trail is a little over two miles
uh we were talking to some folks and uh so we're searching for smith spring and then
we turn around and loop back real pretty right through here so we're guessing that
those trees over there are sign of water so that's probably where the spring is located
we're gonna make it there and then hopefully the trail will go back along that ridge come back
i have lost faith that we were on the right trail it's getting certainly hot
but uh it does we finally made it to the tree area and there's like a ravine here
we're crossing the ravine so we might find a spring we might not but it's a long trail
we're getting our exercise if nothing else and it is pretty so we've hiked basically
up this canyon starting way over on that side of the of the ravine okay and my husband hears
water so i guess we're not there yet we hear water and there's a giant pine tree
there's a giant pine tree if you look for this giant pine tree after you cross the ravine
this is where the water is like you can hear it so we're gonna go try to find it
oh look there's a nice little seat here
okay it's glistening through the trees
thank goodness because i'm dying here
that my friends is the sweet sound of relief if you follow my channel for a while out of the few
hikes that i've done i'm kind of a wimp and i tend to complain and almost give up right near the end
and when we finally get there i'm super happy we made it i really didn't know what i was in for
i was starting to think we were not headed in the right direction but this
is beautiful and it's here in the hot and dry guadalupe national park so if you're here for
a day and you want to do a little hiking this is definitely the stop i recommend
so now we're heading back down the other side of
the canyon in the wind but let me tell you the wind feels great
okay so it's pretty windy i don't know if you're gonna be able to catch my audio but you can see
from here the damned up spring that we saw and then the parking lot so i'm gonna try to zoom in
okay so if you can hear me this side of the loop is a little bit
easier for downhill there's not quite as many loose rocks and it's a slightly shorter hike
so if you have time to do the whole loop that's great if not and you just want to see the spring
then this is the side of the loop you may want to come i have to watch my step so i don't fall
but i hope you enjoyed this hike i certainly did i'm pleasantly surprised it's much nicer
than i was expecting i really didn't know what to expect here the wind feels actually fantastic
all right so we're guessing it was 2.5 miles from the parking lot to smith spring
again i'll double check later and put it on the video screen somewhere
right in here it says 2.3 round trip i swear it was longer maybe just because it was uphill and i
wasn't really sure which way we were headed don't know guadalupe mountain national park has over 47
000 acres of protected wilderness so there is something for everyone unless you don't like
hiking and if you don't like hiking then it's probably not much for you to see here
but it is a pretty drive from carlsbad to el paso okay since we finished the loop
i'll show you that right here when you're at this little house structure if you want to go
the shorter route just to smith spring and you're not worried about um that other little spring that
we found uh the i already forgot what's called the one that was dammed up you're gonna hang a
left so here's the historic home now we went that way down that paved path straight ahead
but if you come this way to the left that's where the trail is and it goes up over that behind that
ridge right there in that canyon is where the spring is
it was so incredibly gorgeous thanks for watching until next time that's it
for guadalupe mountains national park we are heading to el paso just for the night