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| 2005 HCTR Guadalupe Traverse Guadalupe Mountains National Park May 12 - 15, 2005 |
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| To my friends and family: The Guadalupe Mountains National Park, located about 100miles east of El Paso, is one of Texas' gems.. I had wanted to go on the HCTR Guadalupe trip last year, but could not manage it in my schedule. I made certain not to miss the trip this year. Thanks to Henry Hobbs for organizing it. Given the distance from Houston to Guadalupe, I opted to fly into El Paso and then drive a rental car to the park. Everyone else drove , with most folks driving up from the Austin-area. |
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| The drive from El Paso to Guadalupe was actually more interesting than I expected it to be. The landscape was varied. Once outside of the greater El Paso-area, the speed limit became 75mph and the 100miles went by rather quickly. About 40miles or so from the park entrance, the Guadalupes became visible on the horizon. |
| I arrived to the park around 4:10pm. I stopped to take a photo of the Park Sign to keep with a tradition started by my Dad on family vacations when I was growing up. I thought of my Dad and how he would have enjoyed seeing the Guadalupes as well. The Guadalupe Mountains National Park can be characterized by three zones: Desert zone, Mountain Zone and Riparian Zone. Maple trees grow in the riparian zone. |
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| Photo 1: View from airplane window , during flight enroute to El Paso, shows what I believe to be the area containing the Guadalupe Mountains. |
| Photo 2: First view of the Guadalupe Mountains on the horizon... about 30miles from the Western Escarpment along the highway. |
| Photo 3: Welcome to Guadalupe Mountains National Park ! |
| Figure 4: My new tent set-up at a campsite in the Pine Springs Campground |
| Figure 5: Another view of the campsite area. |
| I was one of the last people in the Guad Squad to arrive. We had both of the large group campsites reserved along with two adjacent individual campsites. Since the footprint of my tent was about the same size as the remaining space at the second group campsite, I set up my tent at the remaining individual campsite instead. Pine Springs campground offered some nice views. |
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The winds were very strong Thursday night and a few times I wondered if my tent might collapse, but it did not. Most did not sleep well Thursday night due to the noise generated by the wind blowing the tents around. |