Thread: Guadalupe Peak National park trip.

Just spent nearly at week at Brantley Lake SP in New Mexico. 15 minutes north of Carlsbad. Great little campground. You can go online & make reservations. CHEAP too!! Their SP's are only $14/night with w/e!!

We had a great time there.

My trip has been pushed back to the first week in October. Getting there late Friday night or early Saturday morning, do you think that all the pop-up camper sites will be taken? Can't wait to hike the Peak trail.

Thanks Aggiehiker. Sounds like you know the territory well. Maybe we will see you there?

We stayed at a KOA north of Carlsbad as we were there for the caverns. Thats worth the trip also.

Did hike McKittrick Canyon but only to Pratt Lodge (4.8 miles one way) Really nice hike once you get to the river, just bring lots of water. Saw deer up close and some trout in the water. A diverse area to say the least.

Stopped at Davis Mountains State Park on way back nice short hikes there too

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

Hey Guys,:thumbsup:
Just returned from GMNP. The boys (17 & 14) and I arrived Friday night and pitched our tent at Pine Springs Campground.
Up Saturday morning and hiked to the top of Texas! 3.5 hours up, a strenuous hike! The views from the top were incredible. I wished we could have stayed up there until sunset. 2.5 hours down. We would have slept well that night if it hadn't been for the wind. It was very hard to sleep( I had experienced some of this years ago on a tent camping trip to Big Bend).
Sunday we hiked McKittrick Canyon. This hike was much anticipated for the fall colors, however we only saw one red oak tree. Everything else was nice and green. Very cool place. We did see some trout in the stream but it was not running much. Left McK Canyon and did Carlsbad Caverns NP. What a huge cave. Saw the bats that evening, just magnificent. Drove to the city of Carlsbad. Got stopped by the Sheriff along the way. The speed limit goes from 70 to 55 and I must have missed that! Anyway we showered at that former KOA campground and got a bite to eat at Chili's. Returned to campground.
Monday morning broke camp and drove home. The boys and I had a great time. That mountain range is very impressive. May habe to return with my wife so she can see the mountains and Carlsbad Caverns NP.
Thanks for reading.

Thanks for sharing about your trip

This summer I discovered something to help me sleep in a tent when it's windy - ear plugs.

This is the slideshow of our trip to GMNP and Carlsbad (hopefully).

Slideshow of pictures, photos, and videos, from webshots