Day 4 - Spring Vacation

Here is the sun coming up this morning over our campsite!

We had such a busy day yesterday exploring Guadalupe Mountains National Park that I think we were in our tent before 6:00 p.m., having a snack, laying on our cots, reading a book.  Before dark, we tucked away our food, toiletries, anything with a scent that might attract critters.  Everything went into the trunk of our car overnight.  I fell asleep by 8:00 p.m.!  (It reminded me of when I thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, when I was usually asleep before dark.) 

Tom stayed awake reading quite a while after I had fallen asleep.  It was a very mild night, with temps in the 50's however it was quite breezy with some wind gusts 25-30 mph.  The wind was whipping our tent around pretty good.  It woke me up around 10:30 p.m. and I realized something wasn't quite right.....the corner of the tent was sort of laying on top of my head...the rainfly was twisted slightly out of place...when I turned on my headlamp I saw that a section of our tent poles had broken and the two jagged ends were poking up thru our rainfly.  So not good!

I got up to see if I could quietly fix/mend it and not wake up Tom.  I could not think of anything that we had on hand to mend the broken tent pole.  I woke up Tom and together we detached the rainfly, removed the pole that had broken so we could lay it out flat, easier to work on.  Tom placed one of our extra tent stakes up against the broken tent pole section (like a splint) while I wrapped a bandaid tightly around each end of the broken section, then using sewing thread from my tiny sewing kit that I had in my overnight bag, I tightly wound thread round and round and round the now-splinted broken tent pole.  For a little added insurance we then wrapped Tom's thin sock liners around all that!  We then crossed our fingers, reinstalled the tent pole, replaced the rainfly (which now has a hole and gash), said a prayer that it would hold till morning, and that it would not rain.  Back inside, we were thankfully soon fast asleep until the sun came up. 

Our middle-of-the-night-patch-job held!  Yippee!  Duct tape.  That is what we wished we would have had last night!  {Note: there is now a roll of duct tape inside the tent bag!}  What an adventure!

Anyway, we awoke to an awesome sunrise peaking over the horizon under the heavy bank of clouds.

Chance of rain with even higher wind gusts today and snow in a couple of days!  We will not be here to see that, and we sure won't be camping in our tent.

We had planned to camp here in the National Park for two nights but after our adventure last night we decided to break down our camp and head west toward El Paso today.

Before we left though we decided to go for a short walk on the Guadalupe Peak Trail, just to get in a little physical exercise before driving to El Paso.

The sign shows that the Guadalupe Peak Trail is rated strenuous.  The sign is right.  We began climbing immediately, relentlessly.  Neither of us is in very good "hiking shape" so we immediately decided to just go for about 15 minutes up the trail, then turn around and head back down. 

Oh my goodness, we were both panting within five minutes!

But what incredible views as we looked back!

BooBoo has the right idea!  Hitching a ride on Flame's daypack and just enjoying the scenery!

Well, we barely made it fifteen minutes before turning around and heading back down to our campsite.  The Park Service recommends giving yourself 7-9 hours to hike the 8.4 mile round trip up to Guadalupe Peak and back.  That sounds about right to me after seeing how steeply the trail began.  Although yesterday, we ran into a couple (who looked to be very fit!) at the Park Visitor Center and they said they had hiked up to the top of Guadalupe Peak and back the day before in about six hours! 

When we arrived back at our campsite, we inspected the damage to our tent!

A hole and a gash in our rainfly!

But our overnight patch job held up!  Pretty, huh?

While we were packing up our camp a guy (a retired postal employee) stopped by and chatted, checking out a potential campsite for himself.  He ended up choosing the very one we were about to vacate.  He said he had just came for camping on Padre Island and was probably heading up to Utah, enjoying his retirement for sure.

We drove around the southern end of Guadalupe Mountains National Park enjoying the scenery.

We are heading toward the Salt Basin Dunes, located on the west side of the Park, which was acquired recently by the National Park.

Today, the average American does not have to worry about getting enough salt.  Salt is necessary for human survival.  Over human history, salt has been highly valued.  In fact, wars have even been fought over salt.  In 1848, a feud over land ownership of the tract of land containing the Guadalupe Peak salt beds began and by 1877 it was a war between the new landowners and the folks who had been getting their salt there for many years.  

A war over salt is hard for us to imagine today.  We are truly blessed to live in the current time, plenty of anything we need, easily accessible.

To get to the Salt Basin Dunes we traveled around the south end of Guadalupe Mountains National Park for about 50 miles to near the small town of Dell City, which is surrounded by huge fields of cultivated/irrigated crops.  We then turned off the paved road for another 7 miles of gravel/dirt road, heading back east toward the mountains! 

By the way, you can own your own tract of land near the Salt Basin Dunes in Golden Hills Estates!

We kept going and going, crossing over cattle guards, and not seeing another soul.

We finally came to the Park sign.  There is a paved parking area at the end of the road at the Trailhead, a pavilion with picnic tables, and a toilet, and informational signs about the salt dunes and surrounding desert landscape.

After parking at the Trailhead we then head down the trail leading to the Salt Basin Dunes.  It is more than a mile of walking to get to the dunes.  But along the way I am amazed at all the plant life that survives in this harsh desert environment.

This plant looks like our pencil-cactus plant at home.

Oh my, I sure don't want to stumble and fall into this purple cactus!

These flowering plants look so fragile, but I guess they are tough to survive out here.

Amazing to see this flower growing right up out of the rocky ground!

Our first glimpse of the Salt Basin Dunes, at the base of the Guadalupe Mountains.

A half hour later we were finally close enough to see how big the dunes were.

No driving, no sliding allowed.  There is an effort to encourage plant life to grow, to hold the dunes in place, to guard against the ever present wind shifting the dunes away.

It is a very steep climb up in deep loose salty sand but Tom makes it to the top.

I found an easier path thru a valley in the dunes and finally joined Tom on the top.  Wow!   Such incredibly tall dunes of very fine salt/sand.

It is too remote for very many tourists to make it out here to see this incredible austere beauty. 

 So it's just me and my Sweetie enjoying this area all to ourselves!

After enjoying the dunes, of course we then had to walk that mile  plus back to our car.  We were glad though that we made the side trip to the Salt Basin Dunes and learned about the local history of this place.

By this time it was after lunchtime and we were ready for some hot food.  We drove into the small, really small, town of Dell City hoping for a café, maybe?  No.  We found a small grocery-convenience-general store that also offered hamburgers and a few other selections.  Sounded good to us.  I can't imagine living in a place like that.  Nearest town is El Paso which is an hour and a half away.  And nothing in between.  A little too remote for me.

Before leaving home we had made a reservation for Wednesday night in El Paso at the Candlewood Suites Hotel on the northeast edge of the city.  Thankfully when we arrived there a day earlier than we had planned, they were able to accommodate us.  What a change from our last night...sleeping in our tent!  A nice big room with a kitchen area, an office area, and a comfortable recliner!  Loved it!

Tomorrow we will explore El Paso!