Speaker 1: Not to be overly dramatic or anything, but Guadal of
Speaker 1: Queen Mountains National Park tried to kill me. It did
Speaker 1: not try to kill you, come on, yes it did.
Speaker 1: And after seeing my life flash before my eyes on
Speaker 1: that El Capitan trail, I have no doubt that this
Speaker 1: park wants to end me. I felt deceived, I felt attacked,
Speaker 1: and I felt used. Of all the trails I've done
Speaker 1: at Guada Queen Mountains, and I've done a bunch at
Speaker 1: this point, in fact, I think this is the park
Speaker 1: that I've done more hiking and more trails than any
Speaker 1: other park over the course of my two visits here.
Speaker 1: I will say that the El Capitan trail was the
Speaker 1: least assuming I thought it was going to be easy. Honestly,
Speaker 1: it's marked as moderate in every guide book and every
Speaker 1: visitor guide, and even the trailhead categorizes it as moderate
Speaker 1: since it's allegedly and mostly flat trail that goes out
Speaker 1: on the base of this giant mountain looking rock face
Speaker 1: known as Al Kabitan, just like the one in Usebity.
Speaker 1: Kind of um, but I'm going to need to have
Speaker 1: a serious discussion with someone about this, because five thousand
Speaker 1: feet of elevation game several unending miles, seemingly and hurricane
Speaker 1: force winds are not my idea of moderate by any means.
Speaker 1: That was a really windy day though, I mean, the
Speaker 1: RV was getting pretty high gust of winds throughout it,
Speaker 1: like the whole evening, I mean, and into the morning.
Speaker 1: They continue to wake us up multiple times. I'm just
Speaker 1: glad I didn't do this trail. But I'm Brad and
Speaker 1: I'm Matt, and we sold our loft in Chicago and
Speaker 1: gave up our study dwelling existence to live in an
Speaker 1: RV in travel the country full time, just dozen our
Speaker 1: dog Finn. And today we're talking about Guadalupe Mountains National
Speaker 1: Park in Texas. Thanks for listening. Trails. Yeah, So this
Speaker 1: trail starts by the main visitors center. They're a bunch
Speaker 1: of trailheads there, and it goes out pretty far into
Speaker 1: the desert, seemingly like it's going to be flat and
Speaker 1: pretty level, But then it starts to steadily rise and
Speaker 1: dip in elevation as that passes in and out of
Speaker 1: these little canyon pockets, and it's inching like increasingly closer
Speaker 1: to Al Capitan, which initially when you're starting it it's
Speaker 1: kind of way off in the distance, and then the
Speaker 1: miles progress and it gets closer and closer and larger
Speaker 1: and larger, which is great and beautiful and would all
Speaker 1: be well and good if it wasn't such a miserably
Speaker 1: windy day today, I remember was particularly intense, and earlier
Speaker 1: that morning though I had done the Premian Reef trail,
Speaker 1: which is marked as strenuous, and that seemed like it
Speaker 1: was pretty fine to me, so I didn't really think
Speaker 1: anything of doing this. I thought it would be easy
Speaker 1: in comparison, but I guess I was dead wrong. But
Speaker 1: being I think the fact that it's kind of such
Speaker 1: open desert terrain with no tree cover mountain sides to
Speaker 1: shield me or deflect the wind, I was getting pelted
Speaker 1: really hard, like head on and see like it seemed
Speaker 1: like no matter what direction I was going, the wind
Speaker 1: was hitting me dead on and going against me, which
Speaker 1: was so frustrating and just sucked the energy out of me.
Speaker 1: And it reached a point where I was starting to
Speaker 1: like scream into the wind as loud as like it
Speaker 1: because no one else was around. The wind was so
Speaker 1: loud that it was stifling. As I've told everyone before,
Speaker 1: I married a psycho, but at least your my cyco. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would definitely have a like having a psychotic moment
Speaker 1: out there in the desert, um swearing into the wind
Speaker 1: as if that would help um. But don't don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong with the views were spectacular, especially as the
Speaker 1: trail winds along the base of this gigantic rock face.
Speaker 1: This thing looms so large, jutting directly up out of
Speaker 1: the desert floor like a massive sheer cliff. The train
Speaker 1: is mostly dry sand and rocks, but it's all dotted
Speaker 1: with small greenery like little cacti and shrubs and these
Speaker 1: spiky looking mescal plans. I love me some scale same
Speaker 1: that that made things worse because while I was out,
Speaker 1: they're suffering. It just made me thirsty for Mescow cocktails,
Speaker 1: which were hard to find when like the mes coloring
Speaker 1: people were there, like yeah, the Native Americans, Like, I
Speaker 1: don't get it. Yeah, the visitor center should serve Mescow cocktails.
Speaker 1: That would really help me out. I needed a drink
Speaker 1: after this trail, let me tell you. But the like
Speaker 1: all beautiful, all stunning. Unfortunately, the beauty was mostly lost
Speaker 1: in me since the wind was hitting me so hard
Speaker 1: that it was basically punching the glasses right off my
Speaker 1: face and pulling tears out of my eyes. Like I
Speaker 1: wasn't pulling tears crying, but tears were like flying out
Speaker 1: of my eyes. What is this metal in your magneto?
Speaker 1: I don't get it. Yeah, it was an experience, and
Speaker 1: so that's happening as the trail is getting rockier and
Speaker 1: rockier and more jagged and sharp, and I literally just
Speaker 1: kept getting knocked to the ground and against the side
Speaker 1: like a rag doll being thrashed in a storm. It
Speaker 1: was crazy. I was waiting out of my almon a
Speaker 1: little rack down. This is not even the worst of it.
Speaker 1: The worst was when the trail reaches a pinnacle at
Speaker 1: this overlook um like cliff edge. There were like sand
Speaker 1: dunes of the distance. So it's on a nice day
Speaker 1: when the wind is docile, I'm sure it's beautiful and peaceful,
Speaker 1: but it was so horrifyingly windy here at this point
Speaker 1: that I had to pretty much get into a sprint
Speaker 1: in order to even inch myself forward. It was so strong,
Speaker 1: and I was beyond exhausted at this point. As I'm
Speaker 1: like looping around this trail curves back towards El Capitan,
Speaker 1: and it's getting narrower to make things worse, and I
Speaker 1: had to like crawl or duck down and like inched
Speaker 1: my way along the trail because I was too scared
Speaker 1: if I was standing up, I was afraid I was
Speaker 1: going to get knocked into the canyon below, like off
Speaker 1: the cliff. I just really wish I was there, because
Speaker 1: if I was there, I feel like it would be
Speaker 1: a different story. I feel like matizing this, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It got so bad. I was just screaming
Speaker 1: and crying against my will, and I was It got
Speaker 1: to the point where, like I was, El Capitan personified
Speaker 1: my problems and I would blame it for what was
Speaker 1: happening to me in the wind and feeling like I
Speaker 1: was being destroyed, and I really felt betrayed by El Capitan.
Speaker 1: I thought it was trying to It didn't want me
Speaker 1: hiking this trail. You're just mad that El Capitan made you.
Speaker 1: It's yeah, it definitely put me in my place, which
Speaker 1: apparently is pretty low. But eventually, I, after what seemed
Speaker 1: like forever, I rounded the kind of narrow, nightmare portion
Speaker 1: of the trail and things started to calm down and
Speaker 1: like a little bit now that I have several cuts
Speaker 1: and wounds from being thrown against the rocks. You really did?
Speaker 1: I actually, I'm like prove it, and he did, Like
Speaker 1: there was legit scrape scraps, and yeah, some of my
Speaker 1: clothes were cut, Like I got hit. I hit the
Speaker 1: rocks enough for my clothes to get torn. It's crazy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So the wind kind of persisted for the rest of
Speaker 1: my hig back to the trailhood, because of course it did,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't nearly as bad as like this horrible,
Speaker 1: terrifying moment. And when I finally finished this safely shut
Speaker 1: away in our rental car, my legs were jiggling like
Speaker 1: jello and my heart was pumping, and I kind of
Speaker 1: felt like my whole body had been like just thoroughly
Speaker 1: electricated or something. Yeah. But let's just yeah, that was
Speaker 1: not moderate by any means. I can't. I'm like appalled
Speaker 1: that any guide booker trail head rates that as moderate
Speaker 1: even without the wind. That's an insane amount of like
Speaker 1: elevation gain and distance. It's it's crazy. Yeah, Normally they're
Speaker 1: pretty like overrating things, and this one was definitely underrated.
Speaker 1: This was way off, of course, I'll copa on a side.
Speaker 1: Guadala Mountains National Park isn't all nightmarish winds and near
Speaker 1: death experiences. Fortunately, this West Texas park is is mostly
Speaker 1: a paradise for hikers and rock levers as in geology,
Speaker 1: not like genre music. Rockers can love it too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: just bringing like your headphones, I guess, um, but because
Speaker 1: you're trying to mute up my Yeah yeah sure, um
Speaker 1: but yeah, but the thing that makes this so appealing
Speaker 1: for hikers is Guada Mountains has the tallest peaks in
Speaker 1: the state of Texas, it has gypsum sand dunes, it
Speaker 1: has tons of human history, and also most fascinatingly, the
Speaker 1: largest exposed premian reef in the world. Yeah, so that's
Speaker 1: something to chew on. Um. There's a lot to do
Speaker 1: and see and learn in Guadape Mountains. And as long
Speaker 1: as you don't foolishly ventured into the into the park
Speaker 1: and when the forecast looks like a scene from the
Speaker 1: movie Twister, like I stupidly did, we'll have a great time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know. For us, like Guadala Bay Mountains was actually
Speaker 1: like a two part of trip since we had the
Speaker 1: RV park at the campsite nearest Carlsbad Cavern, which is
Speaker 1: about forty minutes away. But after a couple of days
Speaker 1: of exploring the caves, we got to spend a lot
Speaker 1: of time in Guadalupe National Park. There's just a whole
Speaker 1: new set of activities to do, especially the hiking, the
Speaker 1: part that has a lot of great hiking trails, ranging
Speaker 1: from difficult and lengthy, too easy half mile strolls by
Speaker 1: a Spring to the hardcore eleven mile trails of that
Speaker 1: vengevil Cap. I'll cuple ten. I can't even talk about that.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't want to see a captan for
Speaker 1: the rest of my life. I can't wait to go
Speaker 1: back now. But like, yeah, like you said, like Guadaly
Speaker 1: Mountains is so close to Carlled Pod Caverns. It's a
Speaker 1: great one to punch and to do both parts. And
Speaker 1: they're about so different for as close as they are,
Speaker 1: dear graphically, their their world's apart. And that's phenomenal, phenomenal
Speaker 1: and so cool. When I first visited Galpe Mountains, it
Speaker 1: was by myself. I was doing a little solo like
Speaker 1: three day road trip down from Albuquerque, which so we
Speaker 1: were in Albuquerque, you were selling um Britain's naple Wood
Speaker 1: Farm Maple Syrup at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Yes,
Speaker 1: this is the time when you decided to um freak
Speaker 1: out on me because we had to curb those plans
Speaker 1: to go to another event. Um. You know, it was
Speaker 1: stressful to plan this, but it worked out and we
Speaker 1: became a great team because of that. Yeah, it worked
Speaker 1: out great. I was clearly hankering for some hiking, so
Speaker 1: as long as I had access to it, I was
Speaker 1: very very happy. And so what we decided to do
Speaker 1: was just me kind of go off my own for
Speaker 1: a few days, rent a car, drive down to Gutally Mountains,
Speaker 1: which is just a few hours south of Albuquerque. We
Speaker 1: got this key little airbnb in in Carl's Bad and
Speaker 1: so drivable and close, and then I was able to
Speaker 1: do some trails here, including the park's crown jewel and
Speaker 1: one of my favorites, Guadalupe Peak its namesake. This is
Speaker 1: the highest peak in the park and all of Texas.
Speaker 1: That's a pretty big feat Texas, and yeah Texas is big, um,
Speaker 1: And this is the biggest mountain in Texas. I guess
Speaker 1: it's eight thousand, seven hundred forty nine feet tall. So
Speaker 1: it's not huge compared to like a lot of Western mountains,
Speaker 1: especially in states like Colorado and California, but still very
Speaker 1: impressive and quite strenuous to do, especially since the trail
Speaker 1: is really steep and it's about nine miles round trip.
Speaker 1: But even that being said, this was a piece of
Speaker 1: cake compared to a Capitan, which all never let go
Speaker 1: um Guada peak. The trail starts from like the same
Speaker 1: trail hud areas al Capitan, and it starts out pretty steep.
Speaker 1: In the first couple of miles especially, there are some
Speaker 1: serious switch back x that account for a majority of
Speaker 1: the elevation gain on this trail. Switch back just like
Speaker 1: ruin me because they're kind of defeating, yeah, because it's
Speaker 1: like I could just go straight up like like a
Speaker 1: mountain goat. Yeah, like a mountain goat. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So these switchbacks kind of zig and zag off the
Speaker 1: mountainside and it's definitely rough, but the views of the
Speaker 1: valley below are amazing, and there are a bunch of
Speaker 1: points where you can see this sweeping panorama up the desert,
Speaker 1: the whole like Chwoman desert out there, and a lot
Speaker 1: of it's kind of flat once you're out of the
Speaker 1: national park, so you can see for quite a ways
Speaker 1: and it makes for a great view and it's also
Speaker 1: kind of a motivating factor to like, oh, I can
Speaker 1: do this. It's it's great, it's beautiful. I love it.
Speaker 1: And then the tail kind of rounds them into the
Speaker 1: park around the mountain into a tranquil forests setting, which
Speaker 1: was surprising and also very welcome reprieve and a break
Speaker 1: to get into the shape aid and cool off for
Speaker 1: a bit, also get off those awful switch backs. And
Speaker 1: then you reach the section that feels like you're almost
Speaker 1: at the top or like you're about to get to
Speaker 1: the end, and then just kidding, no, you still have
Speaker 1: a long way to go, and it's very yeah, it's
Speaker 1: very deceiving. Yeah, it turns out. I think that area
Speaker 1: is just like there's a backcountry campground up there, and
Speaker 1: as you're getting towards the campground, it feels like you're
Speaker 1: getting to the top, and then it sucks you out
Speaker 1: and you have to go around the mountain face again
Speaker 1: and there's a whole another section which isn't too bad
Speaker 1: because it's it's not as steep as the initial parts,
Speaker 1: So as long as you can get over the first
Speaker 1: I would say two miles. Then you're mostly in the
Speaker 1: clear as long as you have like the stamina in
Speaker 1: time and water. Of course, it's the last stretch of
Speaker 1: Gladoue Peak that gets pretty hands on. There's some scrambling,
Speaker 1: there's some rocks. Mountain, Yeah, like a mountain goat exactly
Speaker 1: and well worth the effort because you get to the
Speaker 1: top and there's this triangle shaped marker signaling the highest
Speaker 1: point in Texas. And it's a very it's a very
Speaker 1: rewarding experience if you feel like, oh, I really made it,
Speaker 1: I actually did this, and it's it's great. I feel
Speaker 1: like I can relax now and sit down and rest
Speaker 1: my legs and have my little tuna salve bunch kit
Speaker 1: at this point of eating tuna salve in the weirdest places,
Speaker 1: to be honest, yeah, I think you have. I love
Speaker 1: those things. We're going to hear more about other trails
Speaker 1: after the short break. Hi, I'm Brad and I'm Matt,
Speaker 1: and you're listening to park Landia today. We're talking about
Speaker 1: Guadalupe Mountains National Park and we're gonna go on our
Speaker 1: next trail, which is a little less insane than Matt's
Speaker 1: over dramatic story of al Capatan and then some others
Speaker 1: that was completely accurate my description. No it was not. Okay,
Speaker 1: maybe it was. I wasn't there. But we're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about McKittrick Canyon Trail. We did this one together, and
Speaker 1: it's a much more level trail, you know, something that
Speaker 1: you can actually like probably run up if you wanted to.
Speaker 1: But I loved how it just went along the mountain
Speaker 1: side and there's this beautiful stream in the park. We
Speaker 1: even had to tiptoe across some rocks a few times
Speaker 1: to cross the stream. The trail was really lovely and peaceful,
Speaker 1: especially when you get out of the direct sunlight into
Speaker 1: the shade of the canyons. Maple trees, these ones you're
Speaker 1: not able to tap, you know, that's only grown and
Speaker 1: like pretty much the northeast, But if I could, I
Speaker 1: would because that's how beautiful these trees were. I mean,
Speaker 1: there was just so full of foliage and altogether I
Speaker 1: guess this was only about five miles round trip, and
Speaker 1: it takes you to this historic Pratt Lodge Um named
Speaker 1: after Walter Pratt when who was a geologist with the
Speaker 1: heart of gold. Yes, when an angel. Yes, we all
Speaker 1: lost for Mr Pratt Um he and his family owned
Speaker 1: about six thousand acres of land here in the canyon,
Speaker 1: and because they loved it so much as a suburb destination,
Speaker 1: they even built a cabin there which you are able
Speaker 1: to go and see to this day. Um, you can't
Speaker 1: go inside of it, but it is a beautiful place
Speaker 1: for a nitiaded picnic. Yeah, great spot for tuna stala
Speaker 1: my family. Yeah, come on every spot. You're just obsessed again,
Speaker 1: You're obsessive and I love that about you. Yeah. Well, anyway,
Speaker 1: this guy, Walter Pratt, he eventually donated this private land
Speaker 1: to the government, allowing it to form Guadalupe Mountains National Park,
Speaker 1: and today mckitcher Canyon is one of the most popular
Speaker 1: destinations here. Thanks Walter. I know, seriously, but this guy,
Speaker 1: he wasn't the first person to discover the mountains by
Speaker 1: any means. No, no, no, definitely not. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: evidence of humans that lived here for over ten thousand years. Um,
Speaker 1: there were definitely ancient hunter gatherers who left behind things
Speaker 1: like rock art and pottery creations. The area's main occupation
Speaker 1: was by the Mescalero Apache people. They eventually end up
Speaker 1: retreating into the mountains because of the settlers who were expanding. UM. Sadly,
Speaker 1: we've all learned that this kind of invasion before has
Speaker 1: happened over and over and over again and UM. After
Speaker 1: a series of conflicts between the APACHE and the soldiers,
Speaker 1: most Native Americans were forced on the reservations. Yeah, really awful. UM.
Speaker 1: Settlers attempted to ranch here too at some point, but
Speaker 1: the rain is just too rugged and difficult and unforgiving. UM.
Speaker 1: One thing that they did managed to accomplish was build
Speaker 1: uh structure called free Hole a ranch. They did this
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy six. It's served as a residence and
Speaker 1: eventually as a community center and even a post office today.
Speaker 1: That's just as all museum with ranching history, and it
Speaker 1: serves as the entry point to a couple of the
Speaker 1: park's easiest trails, which go to Smith Spring and Mansonita Spring.
Speaker 1: Both are lovely. Yeah. I'd actually love to talk some
Speaker 1: more about the diverse terrain and trails opportunities here. There
Speaker 1: was the Salt Basin Dunes. Yeah, I know this. It's
Speaker 1: definitely a part of the park that is very unvisited undiscovered,
Speaker 1: probably because it's really out on its own and it
Speaker 1: takes a while to get there, but it's what It's
Speaker 1: totally worth the drive. This place looks like a whole
Speaker 1: other planet entirely looks more like Death Valley honestly than
Speaker 1: Broadway Mountains. Yeah, you have to really drive a long
Speaker 1: way to get there though. I mean you have to
Speaker 1: drive outside the park and then around the southern edge
Speaker 1: and then back into the park from the west side. Um,
Speaker 1: and then there's this like super long dirt road with
Speaker 1: you know, occasual homes and trailers and little farms with
Speaker 1: goats that look like demons from that movie you know,
Speaker 1: the which. Yeah, I know, I remember seeing like scary
Speaker 1: looking goats that I assume we're possessed by Satan. And
Speaker 1: it's good to keep driving, just keep on driving. The
Speaker 1: section is so far out of the way, and we
Speaker 1: were the only ones there were the only car in
Speaker 1: the little parking lot, which was good. It was great,
Speaker 1: and it was fun to do that and have it
Speaker 1: all to ourselves. Really. It was a scorching hot day.
Speaker 1: The sun was blazing. We had to spray a whole
Speaker 1: bunch of sunscreen, bring water, and then take the trail
Speaker 1: into the dunes. Yeah, I mean it really wasn't much
Speaker 1: of a trail really, it was like three course of
Speaker 1: a mile through the desert until reach the sand, which
Speaker 1: is bright white color, you know, super smooth and fine.
Speaker 1: It kind of felt like sugar. But these dunes aren't
Speaker 1: really as nassive as um the one's and like the
Speaker 1: great sand dunes you know, but they're shimmering and especially
Speaker 1: beautiful at the mountain backdrop there. It's just a little
Speaker 1: different than what I expected. Um. Yeah, very It's still
Speaker 1: diverse and you can definitely see there's a lot of
Speaker 1: wildlife and creatures. Yeah, the views were extraordinary and very
Speaker 1: unique compared to especially compared to anything else in the park.
Speaker 1: So that was that was fun. And we got to
Speaker 1: see jack rabbits, runners, road runners, very exciting. Yeah, some
Speaker 1: serious cartoon like wildlife out there in the sand dunes. History.
Speaker 1: We should talk about the highest peak in Texas some more,
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of human history here. Um, it's
Speaker 1: fascinating to mention the fact that most of the park
Speaker 1: is actually a gigantic fossilized reef. Yeah, it's actually the
Speaker 1: largest permian what's called a permian reef in the world.
Speaker 1: It's like the biggest and on Earth. Actually, it's kind
Speaker 1: of hard to imagine that what's now a does for
Speaker 1: environment being a tropical reef millions and millions of years ago.
Speaker 1: But this part of Texas used to be part of
Speaker 1: a shallow sea and the heart of it was this
Speaker 1: enormous reef filled with shells and spun is and all
Speaker 1: that coral goodness. But now that the world has changed
Speaker 1: and continents have moved around and things have dried up,
Speaker 1: all of this reef, all this ancient reef is now
Speaker 1: exposed in this desert climate, and a lot of trails
Speaker 1: you can see the how the rock walls look dried
Speaker 1: up with the coral reef, and how some of the
Speaker 1: rocks you're stepping on are actually crushed remnants of the
Speaker 1: same reef. Yeah, I know, it's it's crazy, and it's
Speaker 1: especially noticeable on trails like the Premian Reef which I
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier. You can also pick up an audio guide
Speaker 1: from the visitor center for free, and as you're walking
Speaker 1: along the trail, it will point out specific things on
Speaker 1: the route, telling you more about what the environment was
Speaker 1: like way back when when it was underwater, and highlighting
Speaker 1: the different reef portions with to the untrained I or
Speaker 1: if you're just kind of glancing over it, you would
Speaker 1: never you would not necessarily know it. You would think
Speaker 1: it's just a rock face. Or it's definitely good to
Speaker 1: like look at all those before going on your hikes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I totally agree. And you can also another opportunity, you
Speaker 1: can get a real good reef you vibe at the
Speaker 1: grotto section at the end of the McKittrick Canyon trail.
Speaker 1: It's an additional couple of miles past the prow Lodge
Speaker 1: where we were, But I would say you should definitely
Speaker 1: do it, especially if you want to immerse yourself more
Speaker 1: in this like reef environment. This reef setting extra. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it definitely is. It's not that hard either. It's flat
Speaker 1: and a lot of it's shaded. And the grotto, this section,
Speaker 1: it gets its name not only from just how many
Speaker 1: of these lash shady trees there are, but also the
Speaker 1: this cave like reef wall that covers a lot of it.
Speaker 1: It's really tranquil, really unique, and it has these hillar
Speaker 1: like reef structures that dangle from the roof like stalactites.
Speaker 1: They're huge, they're kind of spiky and a little sharp,
Speaker 1: so don't like slam yourself against it, I guess, but
Speaker 1: why would you do that? And yeah, the grotto is
Speaker 1: a really lovely place to sit down, relax and have
Speaker 1: a have a nice little picnic with my favorite food,
Speaker 1: tuna salad. You really like tuna salad. But before we
Speaker 1: go to my favorite segment of the day, we are
Speaker 1: going to take a quick break. Hi, I'm Bred and
Speaker 1: I'm Matt. You're listening to park Landia. It's that time
Speaker 1: again where we get to do one of our favorite
Speaker 1: segments of the podcast. My favorite, Matt, what was your
Speaker 1: favorite thing to do at Guadalupe Mountains National Park in
Speaker 1: West Texas. Well, you could probably guess what my least
Speaker 1: favorite part was, and that's the damn Yeah, that's for
Speaker 1: sure not my favorite. Um, I would say that my
Speaker 1: favorite was the time that I summited Guadalupe Peak and
Speaker 1: my first time here. It was super strenuous. Well it
Speaker 1: was strenuous, hiresome, but I also just felt such a
Speaker 1: sense of accomplishment doing that. This was at the time,
Speaker 1: one of the hardest and longest trails I had done.
Speaker 1: This was when I was really getting into more hardcore
Speaker 1: hiking and pushing myself and challenging myself, and I just
Speaker 1: felt really accomplished and really strong when I was able
Speaker 1: to finish that. And also the views were just fantastic
Speaker 1: and it was neat to be able to say that
Speaker 1: I've done to the top of Texas. So thoroughly loved that.
Speaker 1: That is actually a really cool feat to have. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: mine though, was probably definitely probably definitely okay with that,
Speaker 1: probably definitely Pratt Lodge, I just loved it. I mean,
Speaker 1: you could just sit under those trees as that are
Speaker 1: like swishing back and forth, and if I had my hammock,
Speaker 1: I would literally have been in heaven. And I guess
Speaker 1: that would be my first thing is hammock and a
Speaker 1: full picnic lunch for Pratt Lodge. Um, you know, I
Speaker 1: think that this was great. And here we go with
Speaker 1: the reacquirming thing of water because it's just Texas. It's
Speaker 1: dry and there's a lot of sun. There's not a
Speaker 1: lot of shade, so you definitely need water. And then
Speaker 1: I would definitely bring sunglasses because there's there's a reflection
Speaker 1: from the water as you're walking through. And then the
Speaker 1: sun of course, yeah, right, that's important for me. I
Speaker 1: think that three things I would bring would be a
Speaker 1: windbreaker probably, I mean concerning what I endured, I think
Speaker 1: that what makes sense. Preferably a windbreaker that could also
Speaker 1: shield me when I'm being heaved against jagged rock would
Speaker 1: be ideal and really helpful. I would also bring I'm
Speaker 1: a queen. Yeah, no spot on um. I would also
Speaker 1: bring prescription sunglasses. It gets super bright and I needed
Speaker 1: to use I have transitional lenses, so I have there
Speaker 1: are these gigantic, obnoxious sized glasses that will dark and
Speaker 1: intent when it's in the sun, so it's just so
Speaker 1: much fun. They're really detective and good, and I wore
Speaker 1: them a lot when I was in Glope Mountains because
Speaker 1: you're in the desert and everything is so exposed and
Speaker 1: it's not very often that you have a sufficient tree cover.
Speaker 1: And then the third thing I would bring, which you
Speaker 1: could probably guess, is my favorite lunch item, and for
Speaker 1: some reason, I I ate this everywhere in Glope Mountains
Speaker 1: is my favorite little tuna salad lunch packets. I've eaten
Speaker 1: them all over at this point in this park. I've
Speaker 1: eating them in the Grotto Peak and I'm never allow
Speaker 1: It's just too much. Yeah. And also, speaking of snacky
Speaker 1: things that I love, I wanted to give a special
Speaker 1: shout out to Taos Mountain Bars, which we discovered at
Speaker 1: the Pine Springs visitors Center. Here a glope Mountains so good,
Speaker 1: such a great surprise. They are literally the best. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because the park doesn't have any restaurants or cafe or anything,
Speaker 1: and we were in there do I pick up um
Speaker 1: probably a visitor guide look for like items to buy souvenirs,
Speaker 1: and the visitor center had this little cool They're stocked
Speaker 1: with these amazing locally made energy bars made just over
Speaker 1: the New Mexico border, and it's a small company. They
Speaker 1: use high quality ingredients to make these delicious bars. And
Speaker 1: the one I had was Amanda gave I think and
Speaker 1: it was a game changer for me as someone who
Speaker 1: thought of energy bars and granola bars and stuff. I
Speaker 1: feel pretty much ruined on other energy bars I think
Speaker 1: can live up to it. And ever since then, I've
Speaker 1: been like stalking up on them at ari I stories
Speaker 1: because they're so between. Yeah, definitely, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: we need to wrap this up with our dream vacation
Speaker 1: and what it would be. Yeah. Well, honestly, I'd be
Speaker 1: happy just come here and emerge without being bruised and bloody.
Speaker 1: That sounds like a dream to me. I'll take that.
Speaker 1: Jerome a queen. But really though, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: it'd be amazing to come here in the fall to
Speaker 1: see all the foliage. I know, I know, seriously, so bright,
Speaker 1: so vivid. I think when most people think of foliage
Speaker 1: they think of like New England settings, which is great,
Speaker 1: but they were actually really studying maple trees in colors here,
Speaker 1: especially along all along like ke Hitch your canyon area,
Speaker 1: and especially in October when things really really really brighten. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and the temperature is definitely more comfortable at that time
Speaker 1: of the year as well. Yeah, totally. And I think
Speaker 1: it would also be really fun to stay inside the
Speaker 1: park with o URV. There are a bunch of r
Speaker 1: V sites at the Pine Springs area by the visitor center,
Speaker 1: and surprisingly this area had good WiFi service. I remember
Speaker 1: like sitting in the parking lot and being like, oh,
Speaker 1: I can actually access internet, so we could do this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's actually right. That's because that's a big struggle that
Speaker 1: we have, is the internet service. I know, big struggle
Speaker 1: and probably one of the reasons that we didn't even
Speaker 1: consider camping here because we assumed it would be not possible,
Speaker 1: but good to know for the future, and also conveniently
Speaker 1: close to a variety of trailheads and Taos Mountain bars
Speaker 1: us of course, of course, So in addition to those
Speaker 1: things those aspects, I think it would also be fun
Speaker 1: to camp here because we could star gaze at night.
Speaker 1: It's perfect for that. We're far, far removed from any
Speaker 1: city lights, so we could just gawka the leaves by
Speaker 1: day and then by night to stare at the stars.
Speaker 1: And how lovely does that sound? It sounds really lovely. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you've been listening to the Parklandia Podcast, a show about
Speaker 1: national parks by Heart Radio, created by Matt Caro Wac,
Speaker 1: Brad Caro Wac and Christopher Hasiotas, produced and edited by
Speaker 1: Mike John's executive produced by Christopher Hasiotas. Special thanks to
Speaker 1: Gabrielle Collins, Crystal Waters and the rest of the Parklandia
Speaker 1: crew and Hey listeners. If you're enjoying the show, leave
Speaker 1: us a review on Apple podcast. It helps other people
Speaker 1: like you find our show. You can keep up with
Speaker 1: us on social media. Check out photos from our travels
Speaker 1: on Instagram at Parklandia Pod, and join in the car
Speaker 1: conversation in our Facebook group partly Indear Rangers. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for listening.