yippikiyo

The upper forested areas of the Guadalupes are especially lovely right now due to all the rain they've received. On Bush Mountain and Blue Ridge trails the trees were so dense and green and relatively humid, just lovely! In some of the lesser-used areas the trail was over grown and could be lost in some places if you don't pay attention.

In mid July there were some fellas from a NM university doing some field research based at the Dog Canyon site and quite a bit of trail maintenance being done by volunteers on the Tejas trail from Pine Springs to Pine Top and also on the Bear Canyon trail (which really needs some work, imo). I was glad to see all the activity. However, as is typical, very few people were up top overnight. I saw evidence of just one other person during the week I was there though I never saw him. Not many places you can go 3-4 days without seeing a human which is one of the reasons I love this place.

Smelled a bear near the Tejas/Juniper trail intersection but never saw it. Lots of elk and deer, too. Lots of cougar scat just outside the park boundary up on Wilderness Ridge past the Permian Reef trail.

I just love the Guadalupe's!
yippikiyo