Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Quiet will never be the same. It can’t, at least not in our ears. As it turns out, the quiet we thought we knew wasn’t really quiet at all. And we’ve been in some really quiet places. Places like the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park have a quiet that is truly felt, not just heard. Our visit to Guadalupe Mountains National Park for a backpacking trip into McKittrick Canyon reintroduced us to that feeling of quiet, but this time it felt more intense than we had ever…well… not-heard.
We discovered the quiet of McKittrick Canyon in the southwest corner of Texas while in search of another of “America’s Best Hikes” (January 2011 Readers’ Choice Issue of Backpacker Magazine). We have been chasing down winning backcountry adventures in amazing destinations all over the United States this year…
We kicked off the Tour in the Appalachians with a visit to the North Carolina and Tennessee border for the Big Creek Loop in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We then dropped down to the Southeast to experience Amicalola Falls State Park in northwest Georgia and then hit the Northeast for a visit to the Devil’s Path in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Next we were off to the Rockies where we had the privilege of witnessing the beauty of the Maroon Bells while backpacking Colorado’s Four Pass Loop and the Northwest inspired us with explorations into the Enchantment Lakes Basin of Washington State’s North Cascade Mountains. Our visit to the far West allowed us to revisit a backpacking paradise known as Yosemite National Park and from there we traveled to the Great Lakes where the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness played host to an incredible display of fall foliage. Then Missouri’s Mark Twain National Forest and the Great Plains Region was the next stop in the Paddy Creek Wilderness and we wrapped up an incredible year of backpacking in the Southwest while taking on the diverse terrain of the Guadalupe Mountains and the quiet of McKittrick Canyon. (click on the links above to see maps, photos, and adventure stories for each of our backpacking trips this year)
The route we followed through the Guadalupe Mountains was an “out and back” on a combination of trails leading from McKittrick Canyon to Dog Canyon and back again. While the peace and eerily quiet destination left our ears searching for sound, from mile to mile the trails we followed led us through a constantly changing landscape that told a loud story of diversity, diversity that has been shaping this terrain for millions of years.
The shrub desert characteristics surrounding the starting trailhead seems to go on forever as the Chihuahuan Desert – the largest desert in North America – wraps around the Guadalupe Mountains for over 200,000 square miles. Just about the time you get accustomed to the dry conditions of the vast desert, you will realize that the walls of McKittrick Canyon are beginning to close in on you.
As you get deeper into the Canyon you will witness the desert surrender to the lush and moist vegetation that follows the gentle flow of the Canyon’s delicate spring-fed stream. You will see the trees and shrubs of the Chihuahuan Desert like the prickly pear cactus and the Honey Mesquite give way to Big Tooth Maples as you walk along the moist soils in the bottom of the canyon. While climbing past the unique and resilient Madrones that grow in New Mexico and southwest Texas at elevations between 4500 and 6500 feet, you will hike in and out of the long shadows created by the steep walls of the Canyon. As you continue to higher elevations (the Guadalupes are home to the highest peak in Texas: Guadalupe Peak 8,751 ft.) you will pass through stands of Grey Oak, and Pinyon and Ponderosa Pine on your way to the high-country ridge tops that will reward you with forever-views of the entire region.
While the over 1000 species of plants that can be found in the Guadalupe Mountains will occupy a fair share of your attention, you won’t be able to avoid a fascination with the story the ancient rock formations have to tell as well. The unusual, often Swiss cheese like make-up of the rocky terrain forming the Guadalupe Mountains is evidence of the ancient inland sea that led to the development of these formations over 250 million years ago during Permian Times when algae and sponges help to build a limestone reef, the Capitan Reef, in the Delaware Sea. Environmental changes dried up the Delaware Sea and natural processes buried and preserved the delicate Capitan Reef for thousands of years until uplifting in the area exposed the reef, allowing erosion from wind and rain to remove the softer sediments and uncover the fossil formations we recognize today as the Guadalupe Mountains.
The Guadalupe Mountains are visited each year by numerous geologists who want to witness the ancient reef, a formation considered to be one of the most well-preserved fossil reefs in the world. We didn’t see any geologists though, we actually only saw a group of three day-hikers on our second day in the Park. Other than that, we had the entire wilderness to ourselves, the entire silent wilderness that is.
The Guadalupe Mountains were spectacular. The quiet we found in the Guadalupe Mountains was even more spectacular. While lying in our tent we found that our ears were limited to the sounds created by our own heartbeats and the competing rise and fall of our lung filled chests. No wind, no swaying trees, no chirping birds, bugs, or insects, no hoots, howls, or cries, no sound at all, it was quiet. Not dead quiet, but alive with quiet. Search out the wilderness and you will find yourself. We’ve said that many times in our lives. Search out the wilderness in the Guadalupe Mountains and you will find the quiet. It may just be the type of quiet you need to hear what your “self” has to say.
See You Outside,
Sheri and Randy Propster
Take this hike yourself: The hike’s starting and finishing trailhead is located behind the National Park Service’s Ranger Station at McKittrick Canyon (Day-Use) off of US Highway 62/180 in Southwest Texas, about 56 miles southwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico.
For more info check out the Rip and Go from Backpacker Magazine: McKittrick Canyon Rip and Go
Tags: Backpacking, Get Out More Tour, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, McKittrick Canyon, Texas
