06/08/13 – Guadalupe Mountains
Link to this Post’s Facebook Pictures
We woke up at Guadalupe Mountain, and decided to do a day-hike around the area. After telling the park ranger we didn’t feel like killing ourselves on a steep mountain ascent, we decided to do the McKittrick Canyon trail. It would be about a 7 mile round trip to the Grotto / Hunting Cabin and back. First things first – the heat is so different here! It is hot, but it’s a DRY heat. I never understood what people meant when they said that, and still now it seems hard to describe.
Before hiking, we needed to get some gas. Found an incredibly small city called White’s City (named after Jim White – one of the original explorers of Carlsbad Cavern) and got gas. Then we headed back to Guadalupe Mountain to do our day hike.
So on the way in, we were being blown around by strong gusts of wind that were being directed by the canyon walls. We were also walking on the trail, which was all loose rocks like you see here. I was afraid of going off-trail because of the fear of rattlesnakes!! We aren’t used to those kinds of predators in good old GA.
After hiking along for about 1.5 hours, we came across this cabin in the middle of the hike. It’s called Pratt cabin, named after the man that discovered tons of oil in this area. He had a knack for knowing where to dig, and 175/180 wells hit oil. This was Carl. He sat and talked to us for a good hour, filling us with information about the area, Pratt cabin, and the wildlife that we could encounter on our journey. He warned us about the five different types of rattlesnakes – most notably the Mohave Rattler, which has neurotoxic venom which can kill you within 17-20 minutes of being bitten, by shutting down your diaphragm. Needless to say, we stayed on path and looked for ANYTHING that moved.
Molly inside of Pratt cabin – surprisingly cool and refreshing inside
We hiked about half an hour past Pratt cabin to a hunting cabin, where I wanted to lay down in the shade. I dosed on and off for about 20 minutes, and during that time we had a deer come pretty close to us. It was surprisingly cool in the shade, even though it was scorching in the heat (around 95 degrees). We then returned back the way we came and filled our water bottles and solar shower the visitor’s center. We also met Carl’s wife, who was in charge of the visitor’s center and also very helpful and nice. I gave them one of our business cards with the name of our blog on it – so hopefully they get the chance to log on and follow our journey as well! So far, they were our favorite people that we’ve met on the trip.
When we got back to the car, I realized the amount of water that we had been drinking. Normally, out in Georgia, the same hike would have used about 2 bottles of water each, max. I drank 4, and Molly drank 3. The heat was different – seemed to be more taxing on my body, at least. I think Molly handled it alright.
After the hike, we both were starving for some REAL food. We went in to town and decided to eat at a Chinese buffet – splurged and spent $10/ea. Molly was able to eat two big plates, but I only had about 1.5. I think my stomach has shrank a bit since we haven’t been eating proper meals. We have been eating a lot of bananas, apples, and granola bars.
After the buffet, we made the 40+ mile drive back to Guadalupe Mountain, to actually camp this time. Molly drove part of the way (she’s getting a lot better at driving a stick-shift). We both slept extremely well, because it was fairly cold at night and there was a strong breeze. We also had the rainfly off, allowing tons of wind to come into the tent. Texas / New Mexico is gorgeous!