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...We wanted to get a fairly early start hiking Guadalupe Peak because my friends had a long drive back home after the hike. So, we met at my camp at 7:30 just in time for them to enjoy my artificial campfire (powered by gas logs), some coffee, and a spectacular clear sunrise showing the beautiful Guadalupe Mountain range still over 40 miles away from us.
We finished our breakfast and got into our vehicles and started making our way to the mountains. The sun was at our backs as we drove and so the mountains were really shining as we drove towards them. El Capitan and the Peak were in full view the whole drive.
At the trailhead, we signed in and posed for a photo and started making our way up the trail which is about 4.4 miles one way. It is a beautifully designed and engineered trail built in the 1980's by National Park Service. It is a hard climb in which you gain over 3,000 feet in that 4.4 miles. The trail takes us up through highland desert, forest of Ponderosa pine, pinyon pine and fir trees. Also, we enjoy seeing maples, Texas madrone and many other varieties of plants. We saw some wildlife but not a large variety.
The weather was splendid: sunny with a slight wind cool enough for a jacket but not hot. We could not have asked for a more perfect day to hike. Up on top of the peak at 8,749 feet, we enjoyed a lunch and conversation with several other hearty hikers. I think we must have encountered almost 100 people today on this trail but it did not seem crowded at all. They were all spread out through the trail and they all had smiling faces as they hiked this difficult but rewarding trail.
When I first hiked this peak, me and my friends had to hike up Guadalupe Springs Canyon because there was no established trail. It was dangerous and we were young and stupid. Later, in the 1970's when I was a seasonal ranger in the park, there was an old and poorly maintained hike up to the peak but it was not the beautiful trail that many enjoy today...
The boy in the red above sat down, then laid down on the rocks and fell fast asleep. He made it look comfortable.
The ranger above was helpful and courteous. He wasn't on a power trip to bark at everyone if they did something wrong. He was quite the model of a good ranger.
Fall colors were in peak condition in the higher elevations.
We are nearing the end of the trail of the high country. Another good hike has come to an end...