On Walkabout On: Guadalupe Peak, Texas – Part 2

Prior Posting: Guadalupe Peak – Part 1
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My hike was going really well as I continued to hike through this Ponderosa Pine forest on Texas’ Guadalupe Peak:

Besides taking in the pine tree scenery, I was also enjoying the incredible views of the various peaks that compose the Guadalupe Mountains:

Here is a view looking back towards the opening of the valley where I started the hike:

Here is the view up the valley towards even more peaks that compose this incredible mountain range:

As I continued to ascend up the mountain the trees slowly began to thin out:

And then I entered the top of a bowl like mesa that had another type of unusual tree I have never seen before growing on it:

As I got to the northern end of the bowl I then got a great view of the 8,749 feet (2,667 m) summit of Guadalupe Peak:

As can be seen in the picture above I had another thick Ponderosa Pine I would have to hike through before I could reach the summit of Guadalupe Peak.  However, before I entered this last forest I would have to cross over the only bridge on the entire length of the trail that hangs from a cliff side:

Here is the view from the bridge out across the remote West Texas desert:

When I crossed the bridge I got a better view of the bridge that spans across the cliff side chasm:

Just a short walk from the bridge, the trail then enters into the dense pine forest:

The temperature difference from walking out in the open and within the pine forests is easily noticeable as the forest really provided some nice cool shade to break up the long stretches of trail that is exposed to the hot West Texas sunshine.  As I ascended up and above the forest’s tree line I had a nice view of the bowl shaped plateau I crossed and if you look really closely at the below picture you can see the bridge I crossed earlier in the hike:

Here is a closer look at the bridge using my camera lens:

Here is a view looking towards the eastern portion of the Guadalupe Mountains:

After finishing my admiring of the view I then proceeded to hike the last remaining portion of the trail that was quite steep to reach the summit of the mountain;

Just below the summit there is actually an area to tie up horses, which was the first time I had realized that horses were allowed on the mountain:

From the horse tie up area it was a short hike to the pyramid shaped marker that sits on top of Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in all of Texas:

The marker on the mountain was constructed by American Airlines to honor the first stage coaches that crossed right by this peak as well as the trans-continental airplane flights that use this mountain as a navigational aid:

From the top I had great views on all directions to include once again to the East:

Here is also another view of the bowl shaped plateau:

Here is the view to the southwest where the salt flats were easily identifiable:

Directly to the west I could actually see the farm fields of Dell City that sits across from the salt flats:

Here is a view to the north of some really impressive rock cliffs that I would like to hike to some day:

However, the most impressive peak continued to be El Capitan that provides amazing views no matter which direction you look at it:

I spent about an hour on the summit of Guadalupe Peak before hiking back down the mountain.  It took me about 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to the summit of the mountain and about another 2 hours to hike back down.  With the hour I spent at the summit my round trip time was around 5 hours. I got back to the parking lot around 3:45PM and was amazed that some people were just starting up the mountain despite the obvious thunder clouds coming in.  It is not wise to start hikes in the late afternoon on peaks such as this because of the frequent afternoon thunderstorms that are known to roll in.

Anyway it was a great day out on the mountain that has some of the best desert scenery of any national park you can find in America.