We stayed about 30 minutes outside of Guadalupe Mountains National Park on a salt flat. We had arrived in the area at night and drove down a gravel road to find this empty space to set up camp. When we woke up, we saw that everything around us was white and flat and realized we had stayed on a salt flat. (pretty cool IMO)
We drove further down the gravel road to the Gypsum Sand Dunes. These dunes are to the west of the park not in the main area so I think not many people really know about them to want to visit. There was only 1 car in the lot when we arrived. We walked into the Sand Dunes, took some pictures and then headed out. It was very similar to White Sands National Park, except a lot less crowded.
On the drive out we encountered some cows on the road. As I learned throughout this trip, cows don’t give a f*ck. They wouldn’t move, even when we revved the engine. We had to wait a bit for them to move along before we could continue down the road. We also saw a lot of cotton on the road. I didn’t realize there were cotton farms in Texas.
We arrived at Guadalupe Mountains on Christmas Eve about 10 minutes before the Visitors Center was about to close so I had to run in, get our parking permit and map to the park, so we could plan out our days.
We knew we wanted to hike up to Guadalupe Peak as it’s the highest natural point in Texas but it had been super windy and we knew once we got to the top it would be even windier. So we opted to hike to Devil’s Hall the next day and then hike to Guadalupe Peak the following day, weather permitting.
We didn’t have a place picked out to camp that night so we spent a couple of hours searching for dirt roads to drive down and seeing if any were good enough to camp on. We found the old highway road adjacent to the new highway and figured that would be good enough for the night. Note: you’re not allowed to camp within the park overnight unless you’re at the developed campsites. We found this road just outside of the park and no one bothered us so I think it was a decent spot. #yolo
We woke up on Christmas Day with the wind howling. We peaked our heads out of the roof of the tent and realized we had a nice view of El Capitan and we were actually pretty visible to the main road (it was pitch black at night so we couldn’t tell). Fortunately because it was a holiday, the roads were pretty empty.
We packed up and headed towards the park to do the Devil’s Hall hike. Surprisingly there was a good amount of people at the park. I didn’t know traveling to national parks was a thing that people did during the holidays.
We parked at the main parking lot which also doubles as the Pine Springs campground. The hike into Devil’s Hall was through an old river bed. There was a bit of rock scrambling and climbing up some natural steps and then we made it to the narrow canyon.
We found another place a bit outside of the park to stay the night. It seemed to be another section of the old highway that went towards the park. We woke up earlier the next day to prep and pack for our hike up to Guadalupe Peak.
We drove back to the main parking lot, filled up our water packs and started our ascent. Both Devil’s Hall and the Guadalupe Peak hike started at the same area. The hike to Guadalupe Peak had a lot of switch backs from the front of the mountain in the sun to the back of the mountain in the shade. We’re glad we picked a milder day for the hike because we definitely felt the wind pick up as we got closer to the peak.
There was a cool wooden bridge close to the Guadalupe Peak campground towards the top of the peak. The incline also increases as you get closer to the top. There was a bit of uneven rock close to the edge and a short climb at the very tip. But once you see the view, it is all worth it. They also have a monument at the top to signify the peak. We spent some time at the top taking pictures for ourselves and others.
We started chatting with a couple from Austin, Nuith and Robert. We had a good conversation with them and decided to hike down the mountain together. They also had plans to go to Carlsbad Caverns NP, so we talked about meeting up and going there together the next day. We got back to the parking lot and exchanged information with our new friends. While we were chatting some more, a couple that was camping at the campground noticed out rooftop tent and decided to come over and chat too, because they also had a rooftop tent. Tommy and Artemis, overlanders also from Austin invited us to a camping trip whenever we were going to be passing through. We made 4 new friends! #win
We desperately needed a shower after that long hike so that was our goal for the night. The campground at Pine Springs doesn’t have showers and all the local campgrounds were at full occupancy or closed so we opted to take a shower at the Pilot truck stop. For $16.50, the shower wasn’t bad. They allowed us to go into the single, private shower room together, they provided towels and there was no time limit. #woulduseagain
We found a spot about 10 minutes away from Carlsbad Caverns, set up camp and ended the night. There’s a four-wheel drive road leading to Williams Ranch that we wanted to do. Guess we’ll just have to come back to Guadalupe Mountains NP!
MoLeisureXventures 