There are two national parks in the state of Texas: Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains. We were glad to visit both of them on our trip across the Southwest in December of 2019. Granted, it was a quick visit to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. It did, however, give us a sense of what the park was about. Here is what we did with the few hours we had in the park.
Making a quick visit to Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a big wilderness area in northwest Texas across the border with New Mexico and very close to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It’s a place where mountains, canyons, and desert come together. In fact, the highest peak in Texas, the 8,751 ft Guadalupe Peak is located here. The park offers a multitude of trails, most of them longer in duration. As we were making a quick visit to Guadalupe Mountains National Park, we opted for a couple of shorter hikes.
The Pinery Area
We started our exploration of the park at the Pine Springs Visitor Center. The Pinery Trail starts right there – a quick 0.75 mile trail across the Chihuahuan desert with pretty vistas of the Guadalupe Mountains. The trail presents a brief history of the Butterfield Overland Mail Route, a stagecoach service that preceded the Pony Express. The history is very interesting and you can still see the ruins of the Pinery Station.
The McKittrick Canyon Area
The McKittrick Canyon area offered another short trail that we enjoyed. Because we didn’t have time to hike to Pratt Cabin or the Grotto, we opted for the Nature Trail. It was about a mile long loop with some elevation gain. The views of the mountains and the desert plants were lovely. Unfortunately we couldn’t see much of the canyon itself, which was something we were hoping for. Next time, I guess, we’ll venture in that direction.
A few more thoughts...
Guadalupe Mountains National Park is not really a park where you drive a scenic route and stop along the way to enjoy the scenery. When you look at the park’s map, you’re not going to see too many roads going through the park. That’s because it is a hiking park. The longer hikes you go on, the better you’ll get to know the park. Because we didn’t have time for longer hikes, we only got to see a small fraction of the park. However, if you’re into backpacking or have time to explore, you’ll certainly enjoy the extensive hiking here.
