January 25, 2005 - McKittrick Canyon - Guadeloupe N.P., Texas

Although tempted to fall back into bed after breakfast, we decided to drive a few miles north and walk a trail up the McKittrick Canyon. The trail guide said it was relatively level and a total of about 7 miles, which after the big day of walking in Carlsbad Caverns was about all we were up to. A small Visitor Center at the trailhead was staffed by a very helpful volunteer Ranger, so we put a sticker on our dashboard, signed up at the trailhead, and were on our way.

The scenery on our hike was at first pretty mundane, but across the valley we could see a big outcropping of the ancient Permian Reef limestone on the top of the mountain. The limestone layer gleamed white in the sunshine and that looked rather pretty. The trail occasionally crossed a river that also threaded its way down the canyon, and although the first couple of crossings were of a dry, stony riverbed, several of the later crossings were across a flowing river. I surmised that the river was simply flowing through the lower levels of its large gravel bed for the "dry" crossings, but it was still curious.

The valley opened up as we rounded a ridge and headed up the canyon to the McKittrick cabin, and huge, limestone-capped mountains gleamed down at us. Being limestone, these mountains were both brighter in hue and more intricately carved and shaped by the elements than the granite Rockies further north. Many of the mountaintops had huge shelves or holes carved in them, often giving an impression of facial features or mysterious caves and so forth. Being surrounded by such grand and interesting mountains was really breathtaking.

We took a break at the McKittrick cabin so that we could rest and I could put bandages on the toes where I typically get blisters-I had been so tired that morning that I had completely forgotten to do so. The cabin itself was built of a neatly fitted limestone blocks, and that even included the roof! A ranger said that the limestone slab roof was the only one of its kind known to exist, and it surely was unusual but at the same time made the roof appear exactly like the house. The house was also beautifully situated underneath the gleaming mountaintops in some woods beside the river; it made me think of how Zane Grey described the western landscapes in his novels.

We continued on upstream to a picnic area beside a grotto. It appeared to us to be an old cavern in the side of the mountain with stalactites and stalagmites that had long since dried up and turned a chalky white color. Still, it was an unusual thing to see and we enjoyed it a moment before turning back to retrace our steps. As we came up from the grotto I climbed a bit up the shoulder of the mountain on the McKittrick Canyon trail and took a panoramic shot down the canyon to try to show folks exactly how magnificent the mountains surrounding the canyon were.

The way back had a slight downhill slant to it and a tailwind, which was awfully nice as we were getting more and more tired. Re-crossing the river a final time we headed for the bathrooms at the Visitor Center and then plopped ourselves down in the truck for the drive back to camp. We would both highly recommend this walk to other people visiting the Guadeloupe National Park, and if you are used to 6.2 mile Volksmarches, the 7-mile distance should not be a problem. However, the trail was very stony for over half the distance, so boots with decent ankle support are a must. It was in the 50s while we were walking so we didn't use that much water, but in hotter weather you should bring at least 1 big water bottle and more like 2 in the summer. One Ranger recommended visiting in October as the fall colors were wonderful and the temperatures more moderate, which sounded like good advice to us. If any club wanted to stage a Volksmarch over this trail, it would I think be a strong contender for having the grandest scenery of the Volksmarches in the USA.

I promptly fell asleep after lunch while Monika investigated future walking and biking possibilities in New Mexico and Arizona, but after I returned to the land of the living we drove over to the Frijoles Ranch a couple of miles from camp. The Frijoles ranch started off as a cattle ranch in 1870 and then was converted to a farming + ranching operation by the Williams family around 1900. They succeeded in surviving there for 40 years or so and raising a family to boot. One innovation they made was constructing a 1-room schoolhouse for the neighborhood children, which still exists right next to the house. Although the schoolhouse was closed, the main house was filled with exhibits that told the entire story of the land from the time of the Native Americans and their struggles with the Spanish to the founding of the National Park in the 1970s.

At the ranch there was also a 2-mile trail back to some springs near the foot of the mountains, but we were just too tired to take advantage of that and instead returned to camp for dinner. Then I brought the journal up to date while Monika wrote a couple of postcards and crocheted a bit. We were limiting our computer use as we had no way to recharge their batteries, and that put a damper on extraneous activities like playing games or stitching together panoramic pictures. I was on the last of the batteries I bought back in Midland, Texas, for my new camera, but that purchase was already proving its worth. The trailer's battery seemed to be holding out pretty well-a 2/3-charge level according to our indicator-and that meant we would at least have heat for the night. The guy beside us started up a noisy generator, but we didn't have one and weren't certain we really wanted one despite all the fuss and feathers keeping track of all these batteries. We did discuss, however, getting a 12-volt solar array and using that to recharge the batter of the RV when sitting in non-electric campgrounds-we felt it would be far less intrusive for other campers than starting up a generator like that clown did in Yellowstone in the middle of the night during Wanderung 3.