A week of being home from Nepal, I was already presenting classic signs withdrawals. How do I cure myself? Maybe sign up for a race........nah. Figure out my next trip of course! So, before the dust had even settled from my Nepal trip, I decided to tag along with some people going to the Guadalupe Mountains from the North Texas Outdoor Pursuit Center (bad ass rock climbing gym & outdoor gear outfitter). I've never been and it is one of the few parts of Texas I wanted to visit. My place looked like REI took a massive dump and gear turds were dropped all over the place. I hadn't put anything up yet......I think subconsciously I knew I would be go somewhere soon. :)
This particular trip didn't have my usual anal retentive planning since I was pretty much tagging along and letting someone else dictate the itinerary. All I was planning on doing was packing and going. What made this particular trip much different from my usual backpacking destinations, was this was going to be desert hiking. I'm not a fan of the heat and temps were forecasted to be in the 90's daytime and 60's night time. Most of my trips are in much cooler alpine temps......hell, I own more cold weather clothes, layers, gear AND I live in Texas. Why then go to the Guadalupe's? Meh, I'm all about putting myself in different situations, trying new things and I heard it was pretty. Plus a chance to get out of craptastic Dallas for a mini-adventure......IN! :) Yah, I don't much care for the heat but the real trick was going to be lowering my base pack weight so I could carry an additional 10-12lbs of water. The 3's of survival. Most people perish without: 3 minutes or air, 3 days of water or 3 weeks without food. Hot temps and I have to carry ALL my water? Mother F@cker! I'm not exactly an ultralight backpacker either. My pack is easily 40+ lbs and that is actually more than I should be carrying with my frame/height/weight ratio. *Sigh* No jumbo bags of Swedish Fish candy this go around. *pouts*.
We were headed up the highest peak of Texas which is: Guadalupe Peak at 8,749 ft. We arrived around 3:30 PM, stopped by the ranger station, picked
up our back country permits, grabbed our gear and headed out a little after 4:00 PM. We topped off on water at Pine Springs Campground because there are no sources of water up the mountain. I packed in about 10.3 lbs in water. So overall, my pack weighed just shy of 40lbs with all my gear and water. The hike up was 4 miles and a little over 3,000 ft of elevation gain.
My legs were a little angry for being cramped in a car for
9+ hours and now I was forcing them up a mountain with 40lbs
on my back. Also, note to self: don't eat a foot long, double meat sub from Subway and not expect stomach cramps. About halfway up, the weather started to turn. I was headed up a switchback when I saw a glimmer of lightening to the west (which was the direction we were headed). After a few minutes of watching the sky get a bit darker, the unmistakable streak of lightening lit up the west again followed by a loud boom of thunder. I hollered out "LIGHTENING!" That lit a fire under everyone's ass to get moving. We hastily covered our packs with our rain covers, dropped them on the trail and scrambled down the mountain off trail to take shelter under a rock outcropping. Thankfully, Owen thought quickly and grabbed a mango and badass Shelly has a knife in an ankle holster which he used to divide up the fruit. We munched on mango and had front row seats to watch the thunderstorm blow across the valley. It was awesome. Storm only lasted 20-30 minutes (and I forgot my rain jacket....FAIL T!) and as soon as it passed we grabbed our gear and continued on. As we were ascending, we saw a double rainbow (albeit a faint 2nd rainbow). "WHOOOA! OMG! OMG! OMG! WOOOO! OMG.....look at that....a double rainbow...." *weeps* What does this mean? OMG! It's so bright....AAHH! OOOHH! OMFG! *cries* (Youtube of double rainbow: here if you don't know what I'm referencing). Anyways, we made it to camp a little after 7:00 ish and set up to enjoy a solid day of traveling and decent pace up. The ground was pretty much solid slab of rock so I had to use head sized rocks to anchor my tent. I picked up this one rock and half a dozen beetles scurried about and startled the shit out of me. Yeah, I screamed like a little bitch. Had a great view of the valley where we set up our "kitchen", ate dinner and watched the sun set. After darkness enveloped up in an inky blanket, I finished last minute chores and crawled in my tent to get some shut eye.
What goes up, must come down:
I was drifting off to La-La land when a flashlight was so rudely pointed towards my tent. A man came up to our campsite and asked us to unzip our tents because he needed to speak with us. Ugh. Back in my college days, I remember park rangers crashing our campsites to make sure we were not drinking illegally. So, I'm grumpily thinking he is just doing an alcohol check.
Ranger: "Hey guys......sorry to disturb you but I'm going to have to ask you to pack up and evacuate."
Me (still groggy from sleep): *grunts*
Tyler: "Huh? We just got here like 3 hours ago. What's going on?"
Ranger: "There is a wildfire to the west and there are 10-20 mph winds blowing this direction, so I'm sorry but you'll have to evacuate and descend back down the mountain immediately."
Me (less groggy): *grunts multiple F bombs*
So, at 11:00PM we packed up our shit as best as we could with the light of our headlamps and made our way down. Now, remember.....I'm Asian, female, the grace of a cow on ice AND I am legally blind without my contact lens. I wear dailies when I backpack, so I only had enough for the remaining trip and I already took my lens out and threw them away. I only had my glasses on, which I have no depth perception in (it's why I don't really drive at night) and I have a healthy dose of fear from falling down mountains while on the descent (Alaska trip 2010 is a very vivid reminder). Anyhoo, we loaded up our packs and made our way by the lights of our headlamps. I was the slowest one down the mountain because I could barely see and I was literally tapping my way down the mountain like a blind man. Not so much fun descending in pitch black darkness, sleepy, 40lbs on your back and not being able to see. Made it down without breaking anything (my toes felt like mashed potatoes) and set up camp in a patch coned off by the RV's. Not exactly like the scenic spot we had up on the mountain, but at almost 1:00 AM we were just exhausted and ready to crash. Turns out, one of the lightening bolts that I saw touched down and sparked the wildfire (click here for official report). Also come to find out, the ranger that woke us up rode a donkey up the mountain to tell us to evacuate. What!? Rude! At least bring enough donkey's for all our gear. *sigh* Like I said in a previous post......mother nature always has the final say. She can be one cruel bitch.
Damn it's f@cking hot! Oh....wait....this is the desert:
Damn it's f@cking hot! Oh....wait....this is the desert:
A little after 6:00 AM, I woke up to the searing sun shining in through my tent. Ugh. It was starting to feel like a sauna in there. Not used to waking up hot and sweaty when I camp out. I'm used to waking up in crisp cool mountain air fighting the urge to wake up because I'm nice and warm in my sleeping bag. This was only my second foray into dry arid desert hiking (GC was my first). Oh well, I signed up for this adventure.....time to go play! The fire closed off Guadalupe Peak trail so we had to go to a different trail. We were all pretty shelled from the night before so we decided to set up base camp at Pine Springs and head out to Mckittrick Canyon with just day packs for some more hiking. Nice easy pace, checked out Pratt House (a historical site on the trail), sat and napped a bit in the Adirondack chairs. Snacked a bit and headed to the Grotto where we napped on some benches. It was hot, we were tired and just taking it easy. Out of the shade and cover of trees the sun and heat was relentless. It was only slightly bearable because it was a "dry" heat. I also ran out of water the last mile or so......doh! Heading back out I picked up the pace because I was tired of being beaten down in the heat, needed water stat....plus I had to pee and I was trying to make it back to the restrooms near the trail head. Ah yes, the joys of the outdoors. I don't regret any of it at all!
Final thoughts:
Definitely glad I went to check out the Guadalupe's. Very different from my usual alpin/mtn excursions but I probably won't go back in the summer. I was not ready for the heat because I was not heat acclimated, being in Nepal for almost three weeks. Daytime highs were mid 90's and night time was decent, at a comfortable 60. I would prefer to go back during cooler temps such as fall or winter but if you have a chance, go check out that part of Texas. It does not resemble anything like the flat ugliness of N. TX. It was actually lush in the desert with the recent rainfall and greenery covered most cliffs and mountains sides. Nice hiking and pretty scenery not found in most parts of the state. The rocky outcroppings of El Capitan with the surrounding rugged mountains are a beautiful back drop to the Chihuahuan desert.
Gear wise, I was checking out a new middle pack that I bought on sale from REI: the Millet Odyssee 45. I wanted to use a smaller pack than my REI Flash 65 pack because I have a tendency to fill up empty space.....the big purse syndrome. The more room you have, the more likely you'll fill it up with unnecessary crap. The size was perfect for this length and type of trip but I wasn't a fan of the narrow shoulder straps and there were no side mesh pockets for my nagalane bottles. I ended up clipping one bottle with a carabiner (which was annoying because it would sashay and swing as I hiked) and stashing the other in my pack. Anyways, I ended up returning it (REI has the BEST return policy) and swapping it out for an Osprey Kestral 45. My 24L day pack is by Osprey and I love it. The water from the faucet at Pine Springs is pretty terrible. It's drinkable but the limestone leaves a chalky dry after taste. I never felt like my thirst was quenched but I drank it down because I didn't have a choice. My toes looked like they went through a blender after our midnight decent. It didn't help that my toes were still raw from the trekking in Nepal. I might want to reconsider my "summer" sock & boot configuration of Vasque Briza GTX boots with thin wool socks. This is the second time I've gotten some gnarly blisters but not sure if it was because my toes were still a bit tender from Nepal. My "winter" set up, with the Vasque Breeze GTX boots, thin liner socks under thick wool socks have never left any blisters. Hmmmm.
Fun short trip and as always, it's not an adventure if everything goes to plan. Mother nature had a hand in the trip, I was a bit unprepared forgetting my rain jacket (still smacking my forehead over that) and I even forgot to put my SD card back in my camera (double smack on forehead). So, all my pics are from my iphone and a few are stolen from my hiking companions. Glad I got to hang out and get to know Tyler, Owen and Shelly from the NTOPC better. Thanks for putting up with my offensive humor. You guys rock!
Final thoughts:
Definitely glad I went to check out the Guadalupe's. Very different from my usual alpin/mtn excursions but I probably won't go back in the summer. I was not ready for the heat because I was not heat acclimated, being in Nepal for almost three weeks. Daytime highs were mid 90's and night time was decent, at a comfortable 60. I would prefer to go back during cooler temps such as fall or winter but if you have a chance, go check out that part of Texas. It does not resemble anything like the flat ugliness of N. TX. It was actually lush in the desert with the recent rainfall and greenery covered most cliffs and mountains sides. Nice hiking and pretty scenery not found in most parts of the state. The rocky outcroppings of El Capitan with the surrounding rugged mountains are a beautiful back drop to the Chihuahuan desert.
Gear wise, I was checking out a new middle pack that I bought on sale from REI: the Millet Odyssee 45. I wanted to use a smaller pack than my REI Flash 65 pack because I have a tendency to fill up empty space.....the big purse syndrome. The more room you have, the more likely you'll fill it up with unnecessary crap. The size was perfect for this length and type of trip but I wasn't a fan of the narrow shoulder straps and there were no side mesh pockets for my nagalane bottles. I ended up clipping one bottle with a carabiner (which was annoying because it would sashay and swing as I hiked) and stashing the other in my pack. Anyways, I ended up returning it (REI has the BEST return policy) and swapping it out for an Osprey Kestral 45. My 24L day pack is by Osprey and I love it. The water from the faucet at Pine Springs is pretty terrible. It's drinkable but the limestone leaves a chalky dry after taste. I never felt like my thirst was quenched but I drank it down because I didn't have a choice. My toes looked like they went through a blender after our midnight decent. It didn't help that my toes were still raw from the trekking in Nepal. I might want to reconsider my "summer" sock & boot configuration of Vasque Briza GTX boots with thin wool socks. This is the second time I've gotten some gnarly blisters but not sure if it was because my toes were still a bit tender from Nepal. My "winter" set up, with the Vasque Breeze GTX boots, thin liner socks under thick wool socks have never left any blisters. Hmmmm.
Fun short trip and as always, it's not an adventure if everything goes to plan. Mother nature had a hand in the trip, I was a bit unprepared forgetting my rain jacket (still smacking my forehead over that) and I even forgot to put my SD card back in my camera (double smack on forehead). So, all my pics are from my iphone and a few are stolen from my hiking companions. Glad I got to hang out and get to know Tyler, Owen and Shelly from the NTOPC better. Thanks for putting up with my offensive humor. You guys rock!
