Recently a fellow reviewer wrote, "It's a nice park, but does it deserve to be one of our 58 genuine national parks?" To this well-meaning but muddle-headed reviewer, I can answer after a week of exploring it, "Are you crazy?" What a wonderful treasure worthy of national park status!

A few preliminary observations and suggestions -- Here, you will have the opportunity to see in ONE park, THREE diverse ecosystems: 1) a Relic Forest and Mountains(in West Texas!); 2) a Riparian Woodland and Spring (in West Texas!), and 3) a Southwest Desert and Salt Basin. Two hours from El Paso and few people in Texas have ever heard of it. Of the twenty campsites at Pine Springs near the main visitor center, we never had a problem finding any place to camp. But beware of the Spring winds (50 MPH plus). Blows dirt in your eyes from everywhere, leaving me with severely bloodshot eyes after a day of hiking. Bring your lipbalm! I needed it every ten minutes! Camping here seems to be uncomfortable for traditional car campers, because everything has to have a rock on it to hold it down. Forget the stakes! The ground everywhere is too hard. It has been a four year drought in West Texas. Just put stones in the four corners of your tent. Stones are everywhere (including the trails). Needed to stop at high wind-swept passes, or we felt we might simply be blown of the mountain. Incredible! But the dramatic winds were part of the adventure. Nearest gas is at Del City, 30 miles away. Open Mon. to Sat. 7 to 6:30 P.M. with a nice grocery store with hamburger meat right across the street. Small town friendly garage owner who lives in the brick house across from the school, and willing to help out campers with special auto needs in remote place. Be sure to bring a pressurized container to blow latex sealant and air into flats ("a spare tire in a can" costs about $2.50). I had a can when I got a flat in the park. I drove 120 miles on the temporarily repaired tire with no problems, and had no need of changing tires with a spare. The ranchers inadvertently leave nails and screws in the roads. Wear long pants. I wore long pants, and even then, a week later, I am still picking out cactus needles from my thighs! If you wear breathable or mesh shows, expect a few cactus' pokes through to the skin. Remember, there are no showers in the park. You can bring a portable shower and place it on top of your car for a shower, or at least your picnic table for a foot shower every day.

Now, ten great things to do at Guadalupe National Park --

1) Hike the El Capitan Trail. A beautiful and serene though strenuous 12 mile one way trek on the only established trail that takes you through the West end of the park. The trail ends at the main campsite at Pine Springs. But you must make a grueling 1 hour 15 minute ride down a stoney and very bumpy "high clearance vehicle only" road to the trail head at Williams Ranch. Great photography and views along the way and very quiet. But a very difficult vehicle approach to trailhead. We needed every bit of our Jeep Liberty to make it there and back, and we went when the road was "good". I saw bighorn sheep and hiked around the symbol of Texas. We later saw a mountain lion cross the road as we were leaving the park from this general lowland canyon area.

2) Drive out to the Salt Basin and visit the white desert dunes. Under El Capitan sits a large collection of white sand in high dunes. No trails, but a quiet serene and almost scary desert experience. Just wander for a while, but bring alot of water, and don't step on vegetation or the crusty dark spots on the sand that prevent erosion (hard to do, I must admit!) You will be the only one there. Get the key to the parking lot from the ranger, and return in the drop box later in the evening.

3) Backpack and overnight from the central Pine Spring Campground through the "bowl" (a relic forest in the high desert) to the Mcittrick Canyon Visitor Center Trailhead. This canyon is called "the most beautiful spot in Texas", especially in the fall when the maples (in the desert? yes!) turn color. A strenuous but do-able 24 mile, 2 day trek from the main campground to the Mcittrick canyon visitor center. Leave one car at Mcittrick Visitor Center to drive back at the end of your backpack to the maincampground, which is 11 miles away. For each person bring at least 6-7 liters of water for the two day trek. There is no water in the backcountry. Camp at the Mescelaro campsite (site One is best with a great view, but you will have to search a bit for it along the various paths around the eight campsites) and enjoy the dusk gathering of over 50 hawks that fly over your campsite. Enjoy the rare relic tree, the Texas Mandrone or "Naked Indian" for its beautiful red bark. At the treks beginning, take the moderately graded Tejas trail (rather than the severely steep Bear Canyon Trail), visit Hunter Peak, the best view in Texas (it is wonderful but hold on to your hat at the 100 mph wind gusts!), circle the relic forest bowl and look for pondera pine, douglas fir, wildflowers, and find your campsite. The next day includes a killer 4 miles downhill portion, but you will have plenty of time to make it by 6 P.M. when the gate closes. Be sure to visit the grotto, hunter cabin, and Pratt Lodge near the trail's end.

4)Hike the Smith Springs Trail, especially if you have only 1/2 day to spend at the park. Great hike for seniors. But not too easy with some rock laden ups and downs. Bring your camera for a great picture at the lake near the trailhead. Be sure to bring your binoculars and stop at the Spring for at least a half an hour for birding and enjoying the riparian spring ecosystem.

5) Complete the "MUST DO" hike of the park. Climb (AND OVERNIGHT CAMP!) on the top of Texas -- Guadalupe Peak, the high point of Texas at over 8,000 ft. Sign and leave time to read the very interesting register of people who made it to the summit. If is is somewhat cloudy, which makes for a beautiful sunset, be sure to stay on the top for sunset, and be sure to be up at your campsite (the highest in Texas!) one mile beneath the peak for the colorful sunrise. Easily the best backcountry campsite in the park. There is one site surrounded by logs (uneven campsite for uncomfortable sleeping!) and old limbs, but the wind still blows everywhere! Take the site that is lower and to the east for the perfect sunrise. If you visit in the Spring and are wondering what plant grows on the top of Texas, it is the diminutive yellow "Fendler's Bladder Pod", a relative of the mustard plant.

6) Spend a morning on the short Pinery Trail or Mcittrick Canyon Nature Trail Loop with your cactus, wildflower, shrub, and tree guide handy (especially if you are not from the desert) and learn the names of the plants you will be experiencing all week and learn their identifying marks, and write them down in you own personal handbook. Few park ranger have ever seen it growing wild, but if you go offtrail, look for the rare "Guadalupe Mountain Violet", a beautiful yellow violet with black markings which can only be found here in this park growing on limestone cliff areas. You can see a picture of it in the back hall(administrative offices) of the visitor center if you ask.

7) Hike from the remote Dog Canyon Trailhead to Lost Peak, the highest point in the northwestern quadrant of the park, overlooking the more remote trails. There is no trail of sign for lost peak, but take you topo, and you can't miss it. It is just a five minute scramble on rock to the summit, which boasts a lone one-seeded Juniper tree and a large rock pile with a coordinate/elevation seal in the rock dated 1932 with an inaccurate altitude measurement. My favorite trail in the park. A great 360 degree view into the remote northwestern section of the park that is seldom traveled. What view! If I had one place to take someone to convince them of the beauty of the national parks in this large park, I would take them here. Serene and wonderful experience. You will be alone.

8) Hike the 4.2 mile strenuous Permian Reef Trail, especially if you are a geologist at heart. Bring your $16 and 30 point trail guide book (costs $16 and sections corresponds to the numbers on the trail). A geologist's dream trail! It is the Permian Reef that makes up the mountains of the Guadalupe range, and is a unique reef made of plants rather than coral animals. Wonderful views of the various layers of time in stone, and great views of the famous Mcittrick Canyon. At the end of this trail, be sure to hike an extra 1.5 miles into New Mexico where you will meet a turn-style gate.

9) Off trail hike up the famous symbol of west Texas, the El Captian Reef. Bring your compass and alot of water, and leave all day for this strenuous activity. No technical climbing required, but also no trails!

10) Take one of two recommended sidetrips. Visit nearby CARLSBAD CAVERNS (42 miles away). A cool day off underground from hiking at Guadalupe. See the Big Room by entering from the natural entrance. Be sure to rent the $3 and 50 numbered tour guide hearing stick, which is great! Stay for the bats leaving the cavern at dusk.

Be sure to sign up ( 3 months in advance) for the Spider Cave Tour on Sundays for a mere $20, and enjoy a 3 hour wild adventure. This is one of the two park-guided wild tours. This is one of the many "wild caves" separate from the huge Carlsbad Cave, but still in the park boundaries. Over 400 people have taken this tour over the last ten years. When crawling through a a narrow hole and my light went out and the person in front and behind me started screaming, "I'm stuck!" and about a hundred spiders started to climb out of a hole above my head and run down my collar I started to understood why they called this the "wild cave" tour. An incredible experience!

OR

Take a side trip and visit nearby HUECO TANKS (80 miles west of the park). This historic state park features ancient Indian paintings still visible on the stone, and has three volcanic mountains (hills) filled with huge boulders and holes in the rock (huecoes or hollows). Be sure to sign up for the Rock Art Tour to take you to the two mountains that are off limit to the public without a guide (East and West Mountain). You can visit North Mountain without a guide, though you will need a $4 permit per day of hiking it. Here on North Mountain be sure to look for the hidden rock art in out of the way caves on this public mountain (we never found them, drats!, but we will next time!) We had a wonderful guide (Tom -- thanks for the cold cokes after!) who led us for 5 hours around the two mountains and showed us Indian artwork on the stones thousands of years old it would have taken us days to find on our own, even if we could have searched, which we couldn't have due to the recent (1998) restriction on hiking due to vandalism of the irreplaceable rock art. Bring two liters of water! One of our young hikers on the tour, a thirteen year old boy, suffered near heatstroke when we went in mid May with only a coke bottle full of water. If you are a rock climber like I am, you will simply feel like a kid in a candy shop. Wow! Be sure to visit the "Zoo" on North Mountain and the famous "Round Room" on the guided tour. Remember, you will need a "rock climbing guide" to take you to the East or the West Mountain.

Worthy of a national park! You betcha!

Recommended: Yes

Best time to go: September-November
Recommended for: Anybody
Review Topic: Hiking & Trails