10/13-15, 2022
1,100 miles round trip
I have wanted to hike in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I found a nice campground called Dog Canyon Campground.
10/13/2022 4pm
Got off work one hour earlier and headed out to Abilene State Park. A short 3-hour ride (190 miles) would take me there just in time for dusk. As I had made a reservation for a site, I did not need to check in at the front office, which was already closed for the day.
I arrived at my campsite. The previous user moved the bench/table to another site. I had to grab it and bring it back to my site. I started preparing food which was going to take 30 min. While it was cooking, I pitched the tent as it was getting dark. As I finished setting up the tent, the dinner was made!
10/14/22
Sleeping was a fair affair. There was someone nearby using the generator all night long. It would turn on every few hours for about 30 min. It kept waking me up. But since I had no neighbor near the immediate premises, it was quiet. The bathroom was clean, and it was close by.
Woke up early in the morning and went for a 2-mile walk in the dark with my head torch. It was a nice quiet walk until I startled up a school of wild boars. They were not happy with me and made a lot of noise.
After breakfast, I headed out toward New Mexico. Once I was on a two-lane highway beyond Big Springs, there were many semi-trailer trucks. I think the oil industry is still doing GREAT business. My first stop was at a nuclear waste storage site, Waste Control Specialist. I have mixed feeling toward the use of nuclear power to generate electricity since we still don't have a good solution for what to do with the waste. Also, no private company or government in the world is ready to handle a nuclear disaster.
Beyond WCS, Carlsbad was close by. I fueled up and headed to Dog Canyon. The road leading to Dog Canyon was all paved except at the campground. After arriving, I set up the campsite quickly. Then headed out to hike the Tejas Trail to Lost Peak.
Before heading to the trail, I visited the ranger's office. Theresa and Eric, park rangers, were VERY nice and knowledgeable about the area. I chatted with them for 5 minutes and got all the questions answered. Thank you, rangers! (Yes, this is when I am glad that our tax money is used well.)
As the campsite was about 6200feet, I ended up at about 7800 feet near the peak. According to my Apple Watch, the one-way hike was about 3.5 miles. Some of the ascend was strenuous - good for my heart! The view from the top was good. But you can't compare it to some of the Colorado hikes I've done it. I met a few hikers on the way up.
After returning to the campsite, I had a visitor in my backyard - a mule deer couple. They were in the dry creek and were used to us campers. It was a relaxing time watching the deer and preparing dinner.
After dinner, a group of college students arrived. Later I found out they were from Texas A&M University. They were typical college students but were polite and pleasant. They forgot to bring a lighter and came and asked if they could borrow mine. I happened to have a spare. I gave them one and told them to keep it. In return, they offered me to join their dinner. What a nice group of students! I declined as I had just had a large dinner.
10/15/22
I had this day reserved for a big hike. My original plan was to leave on Sunday after enjoying Saturday. BUT the forecast predicted heavy rain on Sunday and a possible flash flood in New Mexico. I didn't want to get stuck, not be able to get out of the camp, or I didn't want to get soaked as I rode my motorcycle back home. I have decided to leave early on Saturday and make the 9-hour trip in one shot.
I wanted to stop at The Armpit of Texas, where the Texas-New Mexico border has the 90-degree corner. It took me about 3 hours from the campsite to the general location. BUT I couldn't find it immediately. I had to walk around the field for 15 minutes to find it.
After the PIT, I headed straight home. I was home by 6pm. All in all, it was a great weekend of bike-hike-bike. I would like to do something similar on the south side of Guadalupe Mountain National Park next time.
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