Guadalupe National Park

(written by Nath)

Guadalupe National Park is home to the tallest mountain in Texas, formed at the same time and thanks to the same geological forces as the Rocky Mountains to the north.

At 8780 feet, Guadalupe Mountain, along with its brother El Capitan, rise from the chihuahuan desert floor like a wall of granite.

At the base of the mountains is an amazing salt plain, skirted by gypsum white sand dunes -- really unique scenery.

Of course the national park rangers also reckon there are bears and mountain lions up there.

I laughed at the ranger. They must be pretty skinny ones, having adapted to a diet of rattlesnakes, lizards and scorpions. There's not much else for them to eat, except maybe three and five-year-old boys?

To fortify Bessie's defenses, we set about replicating the superb clubhouse design from a couple of weeks ago; the same stick and hessian based wall system, with a seat-mounted slingshot in case of animal attack. The boys were ready.

As if to taunt the prowling mountain lions, the boys raced each other around the campground on their bikes/scooters.

Loading myself up with the suggested 1 gallon of water and my trusty Leatherman - it's all I need to take down a fully grown black bear or to whittle a wooden duck - I took the opportunity to summit Guadalupe Mountain, a 14km return trip with a 1km altitude gain.

The desert floor around the mountain base is amazing, with so many different cacti, ground shrubs and wildflowers. I felt like picking a bunch for flea (maybe not the cacti) but the destruction of national park flora wouldn't win me any points. The thought was there.

Nobody else was on the trail as the cacti started to give way to tall grasses and yukka trees. The Indians supposedly loved to roast the yukka fruit - 'make you strong like bull'.

Up, up, up, through a forest layer, juvenile Douglas fir amongst other awesomely named trees.

The view out over the desert was spectacular, like the earth had been crumpled up when plates collided however many millions/billions of years ago.

The massive dry washes coming off the mountainsides showed how aggressive some of the summer storms must be.

The summit was in sight. I turned on the jets, not even needing 'Eye of the Tiger'.

A large silver pyramid adorned the peak. Resting against it, I could see to Mexico some 150 or so kilometers away.

I opened the little metal box beside it, which contained a comments book .

Next to an entry by 'Taiwan Tony', who said he loved Texas and the longhorns, I scribbled a  message 'All the way from Down Under to the top of Texas - Aussie Nath'.

I hope Taiwan Tony didn't fall over the edge on the way down, because I hadn't seen a sole.