Drive from Big Bend NP to Guadalupe Mountain NP, West Texas

The alarm went off at 5:45, still very dark outside; we both had slept poorly, so you can imagine that the alarm went off way too early. Within a good 20 minutes we were on our way. The first part of the drive was in complete darkness, within 45 minutes the mountain got their contours back and the sun was peeping behind the mountains by the time we arrived at Panther Junction. Along the way we saw quite a bit of wildlife hopping around, loads of bunnies, deer standing next to the road and finally we saw on two different occasions Javalina´s. Some deer jumped right in front of us over a fence beside the road side. The turkey vultures were not flying yet; most of them were sitting in groups on fences. Some had found their meal for the day on the road, on one occasion one of the vultures would not leave the road kill even when we started honking the claxon in order to make it fly away. Instead he just kept on pecking on the carcass and we had to swerve the motor home to avoid a collision with the vulture. Not far from Marathon we saw many border patrol trucks parked at the side of the road, and when we arrive at the check point nobody was there, this time we had prepared and had our passports ready.


Our motor home at Guadalupe Mountain NP

In Fort Stockton we stopped off at the local Wall*Mart for some grocery shopping. Next short stop was in Pecos, gosh that town seemed dead. I definitely would not like to live there. We filled up with petrol and drove straight to Guadalupe Mountain NP. By the time we arrived there we both were hungry, so I made some chicken stuffed tortillas. All though it was still very warm, there was a cool breeze when in side, very nice after the sweltering heat in Big Bend. After a quick stop at the visitor centre we decided not to hike up to Guadalupe Mountain the next morning, but to do the Bowl Route, a little less elevation gain, but for 1,8 miles straight up the mountain it will be strenuous nevertheless. I wanted to do a short hike later in the afternoon, but Wahid was too tired because the lack of sleep and went to have a snooze in the bedroom, which gave me some time to keep the blog updated doeonce.

In the end Wahid was wiped out for the rest of the afternoon, I finally had some time to read a book and go for a short stroll along one of the trails when the sun was setting, to my surprise a deer appeared right in front of me. All three times we have been in Guadalupe; deer always have appeared not far from the campsite. That is the great thing about being close to nature.


Nice view of the surrounding mountains