I've been meaning to post this for a couple of weeks now, but have been extremely busy, so here it is... A few weeks back, I was heading to El Paso for a research conference at UTEP. Since I was going to be driving, I decided that I would come back through by way of GUMO and hike Guadalupe Peak. Sadly, I have to admit that I have never been to GUMO, so I was pretty excited about a new adventure. I had been told by others that the Guad Peak hike was relatively short at about 8.5 miles, and only took around 5-6 hours, so it seemed like the perfect cap to a busy weekend before I came home. So here was the plan: drive to El Paso on Thursday, conference through Sat. night, leave El Paso on Sat. night and drive to GUMO, car camp (since it would be late when I arrived), wake up early Sun. morning and hike the peak, drive home.
Everything went as planned, and I got some great pics. Surprisingly, for the tallest peak in Texas, this hike was extremely easy. I made the round trip in 4.5 hours, including a 20 minute break at the top and lots of picture stops. The weather was absolutely perfect: upper 50's when I began, and lower 70's when I finished. There was no wind though, which made for some hazy photos at the peak, but other than that, it was great.
Here are some pics along the way....(for Homero of course)
The last guy was found along the road heading into McKittrick Canyon. I couldn’t help but stop for some pictures. This is Crotalus atrox, known as the Western Diamondback. I had to get him to pose for me (which my wife wasn’t too happy about when she saw the pictures)!! Although he wasn't happy about it, I removed him from the road so that he didn't become vulcher meat.
I had an absolute blast, and highly recommend this hike to anyone….
