Guadalupe Peak, the highest mountain in Texas and a rough hike

Lee and Karen Duquette,
The Two RV Gypsies: Full-Time RVers

at Guadalupe Peak - April 13, 2009

Spectacular views from Guadalupe Peak, with a summit of 8,749 feet - the highest peak in Texas. The two RV Gypsies hiked this strenuous 8.4 mile round trip trail. The trip up was difficult and the trip down killed their knees. Especially since Karen Duquette did not wear her knee brace and they did not have hiking sticks. OMG! Such aching knees.

A few motion pictures were also taken that will really show the wild conditions on this hike. They can be found by using the TOC button above.


Below: The crazy RV Gypsies began their insane hike
	Lee Duquette was smiling at the beginning of the hike. Will he still smile at the end of the hike?

No Lee, you cannot hide and must hike some more.	See the cars way below in the photo? (They are just little dots) That is where the hike began and this is not even the half-way point

Below: The trail went on and on and on and it seemed like it would never end. It is called a switch-back because the trail switches back and forth over itself (it zig-zags all the way up the mountain peak).

Below: A bird flying many miles above Lee Duquette's head - see the small black dot in the photo below and the distance to the bottom of the mountain.

Below: Lee Duquette zoomed in to photograph the RV's down below. Look hard to see the top of the two RV Gypsies' orange HHR toad - known as MOB - "My Orange Baby"

Below: A close-up of a vicarious rock. Lee Duquette wondered if that rock would ever fall.

Below: The two RV Gypsies were still smiling as they took a brief rest. They thought they might be at the 1/2 way point.

Below: The trail often bordered a very steep drop down, as shown in the photos below.



Below: Lee Duquette hung on to the side of the cliff as the trail went higher and higher. At times he turned around to check that Karen Duquette was OK and did not fall off the side of the mountain. (Surely he would have heard her screaming if it happened, but luckily that did not happen.)

Below: Lee Duquette looked down over the cliff and said, "This is nuts at our age." (But they were still new at being RV Gypsies and as the years went by, they did even nuttier things.) But they knew they probably would not return here.


Below: Lee Duquette was almost at the top of the trail - but the two RV Gypsies still had to go back down the mountain. It was not an easy hike, and they were very happy when they eventually made it back to the parking lot.

The two RV Gypsies in Texas April 2009
Note: These photos were divided into five sections in order to allow photos to load more quickly on each page and therefore be more pleasurable to viewers. So please visit each of the five sections below for the drought in San Angelo, the reservoir, prairie dogs, long-eared jackrabbit, road-runner bird, Ozona and more. You may view these sections in any order you choose. there is also a link to New Mexico below.
O.C. Fisher Reservoir	San Angelo State Park and wildlife
Van Horn	Ozona
Spectacular views from Guadalupe Peak, the highest peak in Texas (this page)

AFTER you have visited ALL 5 of the above menus, continue on to Las Cruces, New Mexico and more