Below: Approaching Guadalupe
Mountains National Park, the two RV Gypsies got their first look at
El Capitain:
El Capitain is a peak in Culberson County, Texas,
USA, within Guadalupe Mountains National Park. It is the eighth-highest
peak in Texas, and rises abruptly out of the Chihuahuan Desert floor;
it is considered the "signature peak" of West Texas.
El Capitain is the southern terminus of the Guadalupe escarpment,
an ancient limestone reef that forms the present-day Guadalupe Mountains.
El Capitain is guarded by cliffs on three sides, and those faces are
rarely climbed due to the unstable condition of the rock and the sheer
nature of the peak. Hikers can scramble up to the summit by first climbing
to near the summit of Guadalupe Peak and scrambling down to the south
to the Guadalupe Peak-El Capitain saddle, then up the backside of El
Capitain A permit is required as there is no trail from Guadalupe Peak
to El Capitain.
Used as a signal peak for hundreds of years by travelers in the area,
its sheer face is visible when approaching the Headquarters Visitor
Center at Guadalupe Mountains National Park from both the south and
the northeast. |
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Elevation of El Capitain: 8,085 feet
of Limestone Rock |
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The summit of El Captain |
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Below: The two RV Gypsies continued their
drive to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. |
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Below: The two RV Gypsies arrived at Guadalupe Mountains
National Park in the Guadalupe Mountains, east of El Paso, Texas. The
mountain range includes Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at
8,751 feet, and El Capitan (shown above) which were used as landmarks
by early travelers on the route and by the Butterfield Overland Mail
stagecoach line. The park covers 86,367 acres (134.9 square miles) and
is in the same mountain range as Carlsbad Caverns National Park, about
25 miles to the north in New Mexico. The Guadalupe Peak Trail winds
through pine and Douglas-fir forests as it ascends over 3,000 feet to
the summit of Guadalupe Peak, with views of El Capitan and the Chihuahuan
Desert. |
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When the two RV Gypsies were at Guadalupe
Mountains National Park in 2009, they hiked the mountain all the
way to Guadalupe Peak, which is near the summit (the highest you can
go without a permit). You can use the underlined link to see that trip,
but please return here because each visit is completely different. There
is a link at the bottom of that page back to here.
But they never want to hike anything that strenuous again.
So this time, the two RV Gypsies thought they would take a look at
McKittrick Canyon. However, when they found out that this was a
6.8 miles round-trip, so they decided not to hike at all. But they did
take some nice photos of the trailhead. |
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Below: An airplane flew overhead
and then the sun reflected fire-like beauty in the airplane's exhaust. |
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Please continue on to 
