Day 30 - Guadalupe Mountains

Leaving Big Bend at 515am have me a chance to see a big starry sky and put me into Guadalupe around 10am, early enough to secure a campsite. The sky was big and bright and I think I saw the Milky Way up there-- but I'm no sky expert. See if you can make the mountain out on the pic below (view in dark room).

Ten bunny rabbits crossed the road as I drove away in the dark to Guadalupe. Arriving to Guadalupe safely and with shin pain minimal but still there, I secured a campsite and then hiked a moderate 4 mile trail called Devil's Hall instead of the big hike up 3000 ft 8.5 mile hike to Guadalupe Peak, the tallest peak in Texas. Here's how I felt in the Devil's Hall.

After returning back to camp it was still early so I decided to do another easy hike around the base of Guadalupe peak. I got instructions from the ranger to drive to the Old Guadalupe Canyon road and hike in through the old park road. The road was very old and covered with plants over the decades and with its creaking decaying metal gate it had a distopian feel to it. Pic.

El Capitan is the big peak in the photo and the highlight of Guadalupe. This range was once an under the sea reef with El Capitan being its head. The trail went mid way up to and closeby El Cap but the best action was looking east to the salt basin beyond. I got to the high hill overlooking the basin, with cliff dropoff a below and paused to ponder the great salt basin and her ancient sea bed roots.

Then I drove back to camp and settled in for the night, excitedly awaiting the next day.

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Day 43 - Capitol Reef

Capitol Reef, a national park centered around a 90 mile ancient seabed reef was next on my list. A sensationally scenic three hour drive from Bryce, back through Escalante, and then through a national forest led me to the park. A stop by the visitor center to get the lay of the land and insider info on local free BLM campsites complete, I set out on Chimney Rock trail up the the top of the first reef to get a view. Yes sir!! The weather was ideal for hiking and the views completely blissful, but I was frankly tired today. I set out along the scenic road down the west side of the reef and remember wanting to take a nap-- but still having a sense of urgency to complete the desert portion of my trip-- I pushed on and set out to hike down the Capitol Gorge and Grand Wash canyons. The Capitol Gorge had a "Pioneer Wall" with inscriptions from the early 1900s and the Grand Wash had a nice narrow section with towering canyon cliffs all around. I took a photo of the surrounding reef...

Day 54 - Great Sand Dunes

I awoke to clear skies, a dry mattress and pillows, a second hot shower and a waffle-filled motel breakfast. I decided to head east to Great Sand Dunes National Park in order to climb 700 foot sand dunes surrounded by snow-covered alpine mountains--a rare site. Just about every road in Colorado goes over a pretty high mountain pass eventually, and this three and a half hour journey didn't disappoint. And Great Sand Dunes didn't disappoint either. After securing a dune-side campsite and waiting out a rainstorm, I set out to climb the dunes for a sunset view. Great Sand Dunes is also famous for its Medano Creek wave-like flow and ankle-deep water, making it popular with young kids. I hiked through it and started climbing the dunes, first to a high dune on the east side and over to the next highest dune and then the next highest et until I got to the highest one-/ properly called High Dune. I sat down, setup my phone to capture a time-lapse of the beautiful sunset my eyes were ...

Day 67 - Badlands

Badlands means very difficult and dangerous to travel through-- Badlands lived up to this name. I began my eight mile loop hike by climbing up a steep canyon side to the mesa wall on top. From here I travelled east towards the popular window, door and notch trails via a wet, muddy and slippery Medicine Root trail that left me covered in mud up to my knees. Of the popular trails the notch was my favorite because it involved a wooden ladder climb and then a hill scramble past crumbling rock up to a six foot "notch" step that required a almost-rock climbing move to ascend. The views up at the top cliff were sensational. Even more fun, two girls from New York-driving to Portland and a young couple saw me up there and followed the path up-- with a bit of my help at the notch. I love helping people get a bit beyond their comfort zone. We all enjoyed the view then descended safely to find that this notch was not actually the trail but a side canyon-- haha. I then hiked ...

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