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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