We're impressed with New Mexico State Parks - Brantley Lake State Park

After spending four days of boondocking with no hook-ups, we were looking for a nice place with some electricity. We have always liked state parks, but we have found that some states over-price their parks, or charge nonresident campers extra fees. Others are already booked solid with no chance for a wanderer to get a site. So we were pleasantly surprised when we looked into staying at New Mexico's Brantley Lake State Park, about an hour's drive away. 

New Mexico state parks are some of the cheapest options around, at just $14 for a water and electric camp site. That includes day-use fees to use any of the facilities. That's another trick that some state parks use to make your stay more expensive--they charge a day-use fee on top of what you already paid for a camp site. Also, New Mexico doesn't charge more for out-of-staters. While their reserved sites were full, they have ten walk-up sites that are available on a first-come-first-serve basis. So we were glad to get a great 50-amp and water site when we arrived early in the day during the week. We're impressed with New Mexico state parks so far! If you add that the generously-sized sites are blanketed with wildflowers, Denisa might just stay here for the whole 14-day limit.

While we've already experienced some New Mexico wind, the lake looked beautifully calm when we arrived. 

So we pumped up our kayak and got out on the water to take advantage of this rare opportunity.

As we turned toward the north end of the lake, we could see our motor home, perched on top of the hill in the campground.

Our plan is to row toward the point where the Pecos River empties into Brantley Lake. As we turned the corner where the lake narrowed towards the river, we could also see the railroad bridge ahead.

This more narrow part of the lake is a more protected home for the birds. The coots have taken up residence here, so they were surprised to see a couple of wanderers in a kayak.

A pair of white pelicans are passing through on their migration north.

But our favorite bird to chase was this guy. We're not sure what it is, but Denisa spent a lot of time trying to catch a picture of it above water before it dove again. We've seen a similarly shaped bird, but not one with this coloring. If you recognize it, let us know!

As we got deeper into the river, we were soon into grass-bordered inlets where we had to make decisions about rowing up the right or left channel.

Instead of golden grass channels, some of the dividing foliage was of the stickery persuasion.

When we zoomed in, we realized that we were surrounded by cocklebur. We've seen these stickers tangled in horse tails or buried in dogs' fur. We have mixed emotions about rowing an inflatable boat through a forest of cocklebur.

Not all the birds live in the water. This black bird stood out amongst the golden grass. He was much more cooperative in posing . . .

than the ducks that took flight before we got to admire them.

After rowing for more than an hour, we got our best view of the railroad bridge. Out of all the channels available, we had chosen one that got us all the way to the bridge. We planned to paddle on up the Pecos River, but debris caught in the supports of the bridge finally brought our progress to an end.

We got to see the old swallow nests that are stuck to every surface of the bridge before we were forced to turn back and head towards home.

The sun was low in the sky, with the low light dancing on the surface of the water as we made the long trip back across the lake.

We were on the water for almost three hours, and traveled 7.5 miles on the unusually smooth Brantley Lake this day.

We just had time to deflate the kayak and get it loaded into the pickup before it got dark. We were leaving the dock when this osprey swooped out of the water and over our heads. We could see that he had a freshly-caught fish wiggling in his talons as he flew over us. When we saw him land on top of a light post, we stopped to see his catch of the day.

He had already eaten the head, and this was a big fish! We watched as he enjoyed his meal and spread his wings.

Sorry for the gruesome pictures, but it was interesting watching him enjoy this fresh fish meal. It is amazing to see his fishing prowess, and to know that he was able to take flight from the water with the extra weight of that fish in his talons. Watching it all is a way of wandering into another of His wonders.

The light was fading as we took the last pictures and left him to enjoy the meal.

We had a nice sunset on this beautiful evening. The only negative this evening were the tiny flying bugs that appeared as Denisa was trying to take a picture. The black blurs in the picture below are those bugs zooming past.

We have already enjoyed our time at Brantley Lake State Park, and we're impressed with New Mexico State Parks.

What we do on our "rest day" at Guadalupe Mountains National Park

After completing a 9-mile strenuous hike to the top of Guadalupe Peak yesterday, we deserved a day of rest. After tough hikes we usually have an easy rest day to let our bodies rest, and that was the plan for this day. But when we checked at the ranger station, we saw that Guadalupe Mountains National Park had a full day of activities planned. Maybe we should drive back into the park during our rest day?!?

We decided that we could take a restful little hike out to the 11:30 event at the Pratt Cabin. After climbing 3,000 feet in elevation gain yesterday, this would be a restful hike with almost no elevation change. It would also mean seven river crossings. But as you can see from the picture below, the river was dry.

It was a 2.4-mile walk through the desert to the Pratt Cabin. It was built in 1932, after an Exxon Oil geologist discovered this spot that he proclaimed was the prettiest place in Texas. He used the native stone to build a cabin that even had a stone roof.

This was the vacation cabin of the Pratt family, who bought a sizable chunk of Texas real estate around it. Visitors to the park were able to see the inside of the cabin today because a couple volunteer rangers were here giving tours.

The Pratt family would eventually donate this cabin and the surrounding land to become the beginnings of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The old Pratt Cabin is a great place to relax any day, and spend some time rocking on the front porch. So we were glad that we made this little hike on our day of rest. The volunteer couple that were working at the cabin moved to the United States from the U.K. They have spent five winters in Guadalupe Mountains National Park leading hiking tours and telling visitors about the park's history in their rich British accents.

So when we found that she was leading a hike to the Grotto, we decided to go with her. Besides, it's just one more mile down the trail. We always learn things on these hikes. For example, we thought that this was a manzanita because of the red-colored trunk. But we learned that this is actually a Texas Madrone. In times of drought, some of the branches will turn dark and not sprout leaves in order to conserve resources and keep the rest of the tree alive. When rain finally comes, the dead-looking branches can come back to life.

We were there at the perfect time to see and smell the spring blooms of the Texas Madrone.

The other color on this hike were the new leaves of the red maples in this section of the park. Our ranger guide explained that this hike will be busy in the fall when Texas leaf peepers come here to see the red maple leaves of autumn.

This is also the season for the Easter daisies. She pointed out these unique stem-less flowers that bloom right on the ground.

We showed her our picture of the strange orange fungus that we saw on our hike earlier this morning. The rangers hadn't yet noticed that this icky orange growth had started on the junipers this season.

It was about a mile past the Pratt Cabin when we arrived at "The Grotto" with our ranger and small hiking group. While Carlsbad Caverns is about 40 miles north of here and underground, this is a continuation of that cave system. It just happens to be at a different elevation here, and above ground.

It had stalactites and stalagmites, just like the ones we saw at Carlsbad Caverns a couple days ago.

We enjoyed our hiking time with our volunteer ranger, and learned interesting things from her. She and her husband have been living in their pickup camper for 14 years. We just thought we were long-time full-time RVers that were living in a small space in our 35-foot motor home! We appreciated all her advice and stories, and we shared one of our tree-ripened tangerines from the Rio Grande Valley.

While we were visiting with the rangers, they mentioned a nice hike to "The Notch." It would only add another 3-miles to our hike today, and they told us that the views from the top of that ridge are exceptional. This is our day of rest, but how could we resist another hike with a great view?!? It's hard to see from here, so Denisa is pointing to the notch where we are headed.

While the hike isn't far in miles, it is up a steep trail. We'll add another 1,000 feet of elevation gain on this "day of rest." The other complicating factor to this hike is the time constraint. We are in the McKittrick Canyon section of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which closes at 5:00 p.m. The gate will be closed at that time, and any vehicles left in the parking lot would be locked inside until the next morning. So this can't be a slow hike, because we have a deadline to get back.

Hiking up-hill gave us some better views of the Guadalupe Mountains around us, so it was hard to hurry on this hike.

There's no sign to tell you that you have arrived, but we finally made it to "The Notch." Mark was standing in the entry way that divides the ridge we have been hiking up, and the next group of mountains that have been hidden from us until now.

When we could see through the notch, we have to agree that the view of this new set of mountains was exceptional.

We have wandered into another of God's wonders on this day of rest. Mark is on the trail on the right side of the picture below. From there he could see another notch, and he decided to extend his hike a little further to see the view from there. Does he not remember that we are in a hurry?

The trail actually didn't go all the way to the next notch in the ridge, so he never did make it to his intended destination. But he stopped from the furthest point and took a picture back to our new view of the Guadalupe Mountains. Denisa didn't take this extra hike. Can you find her?

We didn't think you could, so we circled her in red in the picture below. She's looking very tiny among the grand peaks.

We hiked back to "The Notch" and got one final picture. What a beautiful place this was! Do you ever wonder how Mark manages to take a picture like the one below?

He climbed up the wall and is hanging out over the notch while he clung to a tree branch.

Enough of this dilly-dallying. We've got to get back to our pickup before it gets locked inside the park. On this day of rest we still have five miles to hike to get back, and some of that is down a steep slope. Once we were back on flat ground we had to do some fast hiking to get back to the parking lot in time. No time to get a drink or take any pictures on those last five miles! By the time we got back to the pickup and drove to the other side of the gate we could finally breath a sigh of relief.

Whew! We were tired! On this day of rest we hiked 10.9 miles. Some of those miles were steep, and the last ones were at a brisk pace. After our big hike to the peak yesterday, we were going to take it easy today. And that's what we did on our "rest day" at Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Hiking Guadalupe Peak - The highest point in Texas

We were up early this morning, making the drive towards Guadalupe Mountains National Park as the sun was rising. The first rays of sunlight were turning the mountains to a nice shade of pink this morning. This drive is 30 miles south from the BLM Chosa Campground where the motor home is parked, and we actually crossed back into Texas to get to this national park.

The most impressive peak that greets visitors to the southern entrance of this big park is El Capitan. That's the dome-like mountain on the left. But our destination is the taller peak on the right--Guadalupe Peak. This is the tallest point in all of Texas. We came here for a day-trip in 2017, but we didn't have time to tackle this tallest peak on that day six years ago. 

But today we are stoked and ready for this hike! We had read all the reviews and checked the weather. Temperatures were in the 40s this early morning, so we were wearing coats and gloves and ear warmers.

We had read that the parking lot closest to the trail often fills up by 8:00, so we were there early. The next parking option adds another mile to the hike, and this trail is strenuous enough without adding extra steps because of late parking.

While the trail up and back today is nine miles, the thing that makes it strenuous is the elevation gain. We'll be going up almost 3,000 feet in elevation. While we have done that much elevation a few times before, Denisa tries to limit us to 1,500 feet. That means that we are climbing up twice as much as she likes to do in one hike. Yikes!! The first section had some steps to make the rise easier. Just imagine going up 3,000 of those steps today. 

We had read that the first mile is the steepest, and we would agree. It was also the coldest and windiest. Hiking up steep switchbacks with a 30-mile-per-hour wind in our faces made it feel even steeper.

But it also meant that we were eye-to-eye with some of the surrounding peaks rather quickly.

The reviews also mentioned that the trail gets narrow as it snakes up and around the surrounding mountains. While we didn't see any horses on the trail today, signs warn riders that they must dismount and lead their horses around some of the narrow sections.

We would definitely rather be walking than riding on a horse with drop-offs like this.

As we looked behind us, we could see the zig-zags of the switchbacks in the grass far below us now.

We were working hard, but it was still cold enough that we were wearing our coats and gloves.

Part of the preparation for this hike was getting our backpacks filled with enough water and calories for the day. We have food for a picnic lunch, plus snacks along the way. We're also each carrying around two liters of water in our camel backs.

We have been hiking around cliff edges all morning, until we got to the wooden bridge that was added to get by a particularly narrow spot.

This is a good sign, because the ranger we met on the trail told us that we were approximately 3/4 of the way to the top when we crossed the bridge.

The Guadalupe Peak Trail is very popular, because who doesn't want to claim the achievement of being on top of the tallest point in Texas? So even on a week day in March, we saw lots of hikers. We don't mind being passed by hikers that are a third, or even half of our ages. But this next hiker passed us easily. We stopped and talked to Pam, a retired volunteer ranger. In her sixth year volunteering at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, she gets a place to live in exchange for her hours of work on the trail. Her job is hiking the trails, picking up trash, giving advice, and helping hikers. She keeps track of her climbing stats, and this is her 214th trip up Guadalupe Peak. She gave us some great advice for a place to stop to get out of the wind to eat a snack. We talked to her about her life here in the national park, and shared one of our tree-ripened tangerines with her. She wanted a picture so she could brag to the office staff about the snack she was going to enjoy on the trail today. That's when we found out that we had been passed on the trail by a 75-year-old.

Looking down from our special rest stop out of the wind, we could see the undulating layers of the desert valley far below us. It reminded us of the view you get from an airplane window.

The peaks that we had been looking up to all morning, were now at our eye level as we continued up the steep trail.

The third mile is the easiest, with less elevation gain as we traversed around more mountains on our way to Guadalupe Peak.

But the last half-mile was the very steepest as the trail got rockier and windier to the peak. From here we could look over the top of El Capitan. From the views this high we are reminded that we are definitely wandering more of God's wonders.

We knew when we got to the top because we spotted the stainless steel marker proclaiming that this was the highest point in Texas. We got our first picture of our achievement, with the top of El Capitan in the background. We're at 8,751 feet in elevation at this point, and we're the tallest man and woman in Texas right now.

It was cold and windy, with nothing to block the wind when you're the tallest thing for many miles.

We walked the entire perimeter of the summit, taking pictures from all the angles. From here we could see the salt flats to the west . . .

and the rest of the Guadalupe mountain chain to the north.

Jan had been stopping to talk to hikers all along the way, and she made it to the summit while we were still at the top. Count this #214 for her, and #1 for us. Jan took another picture for us before we started the long trek back down.

It was all downhill from that point. Sometimes it's harder on the knees to go downhill, but definitely easier on the lungs. We stopped in our special out-of-the-wind spot for a picnic lunch, as we watched a pretty steady stream of hikers trying to make it to the highest spot in Texas. The temperature warmed up and the winds slowed so that it was actually quite pleasant for the hike down. We didn't take pictures going down because we were focused on getting off our feet and resting. We ended the day with 9.02 miles and 3,002 feet in elevation gain on this hike to Guadalupe Peak--the highest point in Texas. We think our legs deserve to take a day off tomorrow!