GUMO or Bust!

[TheWildWestGuy]

I think I am with Muse on this one.  Glad to be in a warm dry place and not camping out in a freezing windstorm.  I can feel myself getting the flu just reading your trip report.  Best to do those sorts of things while your still young.... TWWG

[chisos_muse]

Well, this is an extremely exciting trip report! I like the little side stories about the strange characters there too. And what I really like is your humble storytelling. Not afraid to admit your fatigue or things you'd forgot and such.  8)  Really glad y'all are back safe! :D

[randell]

Glad you like!  

Here are the pics!

[SA Bill]

Great report! The pics make it look like it was really, really cold!!

I'm with some of the others...cold weather camping does not appeal to me any more. The coldest I ever camped in was 17 degrees. An arm snaked out of the sleeping bag while I was sleeping and I woke up to a numb hand and forearm. That was when I stated figuring out that cold weather camping wasn't as much fun as far as I was concerned. Now I have a small propane catalytic heater to take the chill out of the tent when camping in cool weather. Call me a wimp!
   Bill

[Al]

Great report! The pics make it look like it was really, really cold!!

I'm with some of the others...cold weather camping does not appeal to me any more. The coldest I ever camped in was 17 degrees. An arm snaked out of the sleeping bag while I was sleeping and I woke up to a numb hand and forearm. That was when I stated figuring out that cold weather camping wasn't as much fun as far as I was concerned. Now I have a small propane catalytic heater to take the chill out of the tent when camping in cool weather. Call me a wimp!
   Bill

It' not the cold that gets you, especially at the Guadalupes, it's the wind.  All you can do is hunker down which greatly limits one's ability to enjoy what's around you.  Truck camping I use something like this except the burners don't have a housing and can be turned away from each other to direct the heat.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_40773_40773
 

I Love it especially if it's cold and windy.  I don't recommend using in a tent.  It can easily keep a room warm in your house.  (Use proper ventilation!)



Al

[bdann]

awesome trip Randell!

[randell]

It' not the cold that gets you, especially at the Guadalupes, it's the wind.  All you can do is hunker down which greatly limits one's ability to enjoy what's around you.  Truck camping I use something like this except the burners don't have a housing and can be turned away from each other to direct the heat.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_40773_40773
 

I Love it especially if it's cold and windy.  I don't recommend using in a tent.  It can easily keep a room warm in your house.  (Use proper ventilation!)

Al

That looks like what we used to heat our goat barn with!  It ran on kerosine and heated up a 2,000 square foot barn in the winter.

[homerboy2u]

I don't think you are a wimp at all SA Bill, sometimes....you just have to try and push it a little bit more , to know your limits.

 Great to know, you are OK..Randell. Awsome trip report, I envy the hell out of you man.

[Goldilocks]

Very beautiful pics!  Glad you are home safe, though.  What an awesome trip, although I have to agree with Muse on this one.  NOT a Goldilocks kind of place, at least in the winter!  :oops:

[Al]

That looks like what we used to heat our goat barn with!  It ran on kerosine and heated up a 2,000 square foot barn in the winter.

No good if you're travel by air, but by truck, I promise you that if I had been in the next campsite with that sucker fired up and invited you to have a sit, you'd be hard to run off!  A lot of wasted heat in the outdoors but the infrared part penetrates the cold, for sure.

Good job!  Sounds like you brought all the right stuff, even while limited by what you could carry on the plane: you are the man!

Al

[Al]

Ahh. To be young again.  Can't believe you had trouble sleeping.  Did you forget your earplugs?

Al

 Dang...AL. You have got to be one of the smartest guys on this board.

Homero, I'm not all that smart, but do have some similar experiences, thanks!

Al

[mountaindocdanny]

Great pics! It's always a privelage to see west TX coated in snow. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate for a night on the peak. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[jeffblaylock]

Sounds like a great trip, though I think it would have been miserable solo. Misery doesn't love company as much as it needs it to be enjoyable.

It took me three attempts before summiting the peak. Lightning drove me back down twice, once right at the campground elevation. When I finally made it, there was ice on several stretches of the trail, and the wind was howling furiously.

Being there in a snow event -- that would've been something. Glad you got to experience it and got home safely.

Neither of them were available so we just left messages.

Good thing nobody was hurt or in trouble or it was the last time you'd ever talk to them before freezing to death or anything ....

[randell]

What tent & sleeping bags were you using?

We used Matt's Sierra Designs Orion tent.  Matt had a The North Face Cat's Meow 20 degree synthetic bag and I have a Marmot Sawtooth 20 degree down bag.  The bags were awesome.  Tent could have been more sturdy.

[chisos_muse]

As of 9:10 am, 01/23/07.....GUMO is officially closed due to snow and weather conditions.