Post by trinity on Feb 5, 2017 13:14:02 GMT -8
Last week I managed to get away for 5 days in Guadalupe National Park. It was a great trip. I’ve never backpacked there, in large part because my backpacking partner Floyd (a Chesapeake Bay Retriever) is not allowed there. Floyd is getting a bit old for longer trips, so I went solo this time, which made it a good opportunity to head to the Guads. The park employee who issued me the permit remarked that I would have the entire back country area to myself. The only permits issued for that whole week were for Guadalupe Peak. He was right; I saw no one in the high country for 5 day, and had each of the 4 campgrounds to myself. It was glorious.
The trailhead is at about 5,800 feet, and climbs steeply into the mountains.
There are great views of Guadalupe and other peaks to the south.
About 4 miles and 2,000 feet later, the trail drops into the bowl. The change is striking, from high desert to ponderosa pine and spruce forest blanketed in accumulated snow.
My first Campsite was at Mescalero. A beautiful wooded site that offered me some protection from the high winds. The wind forecast for that day was for gusts to 60mph. I don’t think it got quite that high, but it was plenty windy. I had some sleet that first night, which was fun.
On day 2 I continued north to Dog Canyon, a developed campground, where I loaded up on water. This was to be my only water source for the rest of the trip, so I walked back out with about 12 liters of water. Along with my winter gear, I was carrying quite a load. Dog Canyon is a beautiful area, lush grasslands with open woodlands of Alligator Juniper and Pinyon and Ponderosa Pine. It reminded me of some areas I’ve been in the Chiricahuas in Arizona.
I climbed about 800 feet onto a ridge, then dropped down the other side into West Dog Canyon and my campsite at Marcus. Another beautiful campground that I had all to myself.
The third day took me through an area that burned some time back. The trail was overgrown and difficult to follow in spots. Nothing major, but I had to take it slowly, losing and refinding the trail from time to time. Eventually I began the climb back into the high country. Since I still had some 8 or 9 liters on my back, this was no picnic, but it was a beautiful day of climbing higher and higher, with incredible views.
Eventually I got back up into the high country at the Blue Ridge Trails, again entering deep forest with fairly heavy snow cover in some areas.
Here the trail became a challenge to follow, not because it was overgrown, but because it was snow covered. The trail eventually crossed over Bush Mountain, at 8,631 feet the second highest peak in the state. The Bush Mountain Campground is just a little below the peak to the south.
On day four I was lazing around my tent when I noticed a few snowflakes falling. I figured there would just be a few flurries, but instead the snow continued and got heavier. I packed up and headed out, I only had a very short (2.5) miles to the Pine Top campground, but the snow made for fairly slow going. I arrived at the campground around noon, and set up my tent on snow, a new experience for me. I spent the afternoon wandering through the Bowl in the falling snow, a truly magical experience. But soon I had to retreat back to the tent, where I was pretty much confined for the late afternoon and the evening, trying to keep warm and knock the snow off my tent periodically. In all I think that day’s snowfall only amounted to 3 or 4 inches, but that is a lot for a native Texan like me. Also, the low that night was about 12 degrees, a little colder than I was prepared for.
The next day I packed up as quickly as I could and headed out of the mountains. It was only about 4 miles back out, and I pretty quickly got to elevations where it was much warmer, and no snow had accumulated. As I got closer to the trailhead, a few dayhikers passed me heading up, the first hikers I had seen the entire trip.
All in all, it was a fantastic trip, one of my favorite outings ever. The Guads are a great winter destination if you like solitude, are prepared for a wide range of conditions, and don’t mind carrying 25 pounds of water on your back. Thanks to everyone here who helped me plan for this trip, especially @scottmc .
The trailhead is at about 5,800 feet, and climbs steeply into the mountains.
There are great views of Guadalupe and other peaks to the south.
About 4 miles and 2,000 feet later, the trail drops into the bowl. The change is striking, from high desert to ponderosa pine and spruce forest blanketed in accumulated snow.
My first Campsite was at Mescalero. A beautiful wooded site that offered me some protection from the high winds. The wind forecast for that day was for gusts to 60mph. I don’t think it got quite that high, but it was plenty windy. I had some sleet that first night, which was fun.
On day 2 I continued north to Dog Canyon, a developed campground, where I loaded up on water. This was to be my only water source for the rest of the trip, so I walked back out with about 12 liters of water. Along with my winter gear, I was carrying quite a load. Dog Canyon is a beautiful area, lush grasslands with open woodlands of Alligator Juniper and Pinyon and Ponderosa Pine. It reminded me of some areas I’ve been in the Chiricahuas in Arizona.
I climbed about 800 feet onto a ridge, then dropped down the other side into West Dog Canyon and my campsite at Marcus. Another beautiful campground that I had all to myself.
The third day took me through an area that burned some time back. The trail was overgrown and difficult to follow in spots. Nothing major, but I had to take it slowly, losing and refinding the trail from time to time. Eventually I began the climb back into the high country. Since I still had some 8 or 9 liters on my back, this was no picnic, but it was a beautiful day of climbing higher and higher, with incredible views.
Eventually I got back up into the high country at the Blue Ridge Trails, again entering deep forest with fairly heavy snow cover in some areas.
Here the trail became a challenge to follow, not because it was overgrown, but because it was snow covered. The trail eventually crossed over Bush Mountain, at 8,631 feet the second highest peak in the state. The Bush Mountain Campground is just a little below the peak to the south.
On day four I was lazing around my tent when I noticed a few snowflakes falling. I figured there would just be a few flurries, but instead the snow continued and got heavier. I packed up and headed out, I only had a very short (2.5) miles to the Pine Top campground, but the snow made for fairly slow going. I arrived at the campground around noon, and set up my tent on snow, a new experience for me. I spent the afternoon wandering through the Bowl in the falling snow, a truly magical experience. But soon I had to retreat back to the tent, where I was pretty much confined for the late afternoon and the evening, trying to keep warm and knock the snow off my tent periodically. In all I think that day’s snowfall only amounted to 3 or 4 inches, but that is a lot for a native Texan like me. Also, the low that night was about 12 degrees, a little colder than I was prepared for.
The next day I packed up as quickly as I could and headed out of the mountains. It was only about 4 miles back out, and I pretty quickly got to elevations where it was much warmer, and no snow had accumulated. As I got closer to the trailhead, a few dayhikers passed me heading up, the first hikers I had seen the entire trip.
All in all, it was a fantastic trip, one of my favorite outings ever. The Guads are a great winter destination if you like solitude, are prepared for a wide range of conditions, and don’t mind carrying 25 pounds of water on your back. Thanks to everyone here who helped me plan for this trip, especially @scottmc .
There are some areas of the Lincoln nearby that you could look into. In Texas, you're pretty much limited to the State Park system. Big Bend Ranch SP does not allow dogs in the back country, but most of the others do. You might look into Franklin Mountains State Park, or Davis Mountains State Park. I haven't been to the Franklins in a long time, but I love the Davis Mountains, it's really a great area, and a pretty nice park.