Drive along the “National Park Highway” (U.S. Hwy 62/180) and you cannot miss the 8,000-foot peaks of the Capitan Reef.  This looks like a mountain range, but it’s really a giant reef with one of the largest cave networks on Earth.  Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas contains 86,416 acres along the southern, highest part of the 50-mile-long Guadalupe range.  Just over the border in New Mexico on the northern part of the Guadalupe Range is Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  We visited both parks in early November 2009.

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Guadalupe Peak (8,749’) is the highest peak in Texas and is visible for miles.  On the far left is El Capitan, the southernmost bluff of the Guadalupe Range.  It has served as a landmark for weary desert travellers for centuries.

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We were all alone for a half hour at this amazing lunch spot near Guadalupe Peak.

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Dog Canyon lies in a forested canyon on the north end of Guadalupe Mountains National Park at an elevation of 6,300 feet.  It’s about a 2-hour out-of-the-way drive from the main park entrance and hence is quite secluded.

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McKittrick Canyon was named for Captain Felix McKittrick, a rancher and one of the early white settlers who lived at the mouth of the canyon in 1869.

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