Departed White Sands, New Mexico and a huge feeling of pride when I crossed into Texas. This was the state where I started the trip and my new home. However, this is when you realize how large Texas is as I still had plenty of miles to travel on this journey. My parents followed as I battled strong winds and passed Guadalupe Mountains National Park, getting a sneak peak of the park. We crossed back into New Mexico to set up camp in Carlsbad for the next couple of days.
I splurged for the covered patio campsite as we took the time to relax and enjoy my new favorite pastime of watching campers setup and takedown. I spent one night in my parent’s hotel to allow them to enjoy the experience and stay up to watch the milky way at night.
The first adventure was exploring Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The journey began with our favorite part, we descended down into the caverns using the Natural Entrance Trail which is 1.25 miles and the equivalent of taking the stairs down a 75-story building. It sounds daunting but well worth it (have some grippy shoes). We then spent the rest of our time walking around the Big Room Trail amazed at the size of the caverns.
Despite the rainy weather we drove down to Guadalupe Mountains National Park for a day of hiking which included the Pinery Trail and Smith Spring Trail. After such a hot summer a cool and rainy day was a treat.
After enjoying all of the sites my parents departed and then next time I would see them would be in their driveway at the end of the journey. I enjoyed a relaxing day filled with laundry and a trip up to Rosewell to hang out with the extraterrorestrials.
It was now time to climb to Guadalupe Peak to enjoy the best view in my new home state. The peak is known as the Top of Texas as it is highest point in the state at 8,751 feet. It is a brutal climb up to begin, the second photo you can see the parking lot way below as it is hours on a StairMaster before the up and down journey continues and you find a little shade. A huge sense of accomplishment making it to the top and enjoyed my PB&J lunch as I watched the clouds roll through. Nothing better than spending some time lost in thought sitting on top of a mountain. What goes up must come down so I began the very long journey back to the truck.
KOA delivered a nice Texas brisket dinner to my campsite which was the perfect ending to the day and my time here.
