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