On our way to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, we agreed to spend another night spooning in a Wal-Mart parking lot outside Pecos, Texas. After another cold night of playing footsie with each other, we made some breakfast and headed to a truck stop across the street to look for some wifi. If there isn’t a truck stop equivalent website to “People of Wal-Mart,” there needs to be. Pecos, Texas introduced us to The Great Willie Felix Carter. Willie was in the midst of his Presidential Campaign and decided to make a stop in Pecos for some swing votes. VOTE FOR WILLIE!!

A few hours later, we arrived at Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We picked up our backcountry camping permits and were both under the impression we had a mild four-mile hike up the mountain to our campsite. NOPE! Little did we know, we would be hiking up four miles of rocky, narrow switchbacks gaining an elevation of nearly 3000ft.

 

While Guadalupe has a beautiful landscape, it is mostly barren and desolate terrain with no natural water sources. Backpackers must carry their own water supply with a suggested one gallon (approx 8LBs) per day in their packs. We left the trailhead with about two gallons each to begin what turned into nearly four hours of hiking in the desert heat. The trail seemed to never end as each curve in the path brought about more rocky and steep terrain.

Utterly exhausted and having depleted nearly half of our water supply, we finally reached our campsite around 5:30-6:00 o’clock. We set up camp, watched an impressive sun set, and settled down for some dinner and a game of cribbage, which Frank was certain he remembered how to play.  After a few rounds of Frank’s questionable rules and score keeping we decided to call it a night.

In the morning, we made it back down the mountain in half the time it took to hike up. Having made it down so quickly and as your typical over-acheivers, we made the rash decision to drive 45 minutes to New Mexico for a visit to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Two National Parks in one day? Why not!

Shortly after our arrival we discovered that the elevator system was not in service and visitors would have to walk the 1.25 mile path down to the cave entrance, another 1.25 mile walk through the “Big Room,” and 1.25 miles back out to the visitor center. As we made our descent into the cave, nearly everyone we passed walking out seemed to be pale in the face, huffing for air, or sweating buckets. Considering we already hiked four miles off a mountain earlier in the morning, we knew this going to be a piece of cake for a couple of strapping retired athletes like ourselves.

Immediately upon entering the cave your nostrils pick up the scent of Guano (bat poo) and your eyes grasp how gigantic this place is. Carlsbad’s big cave is the largest known cavity in the Western Hemisphere and it’s hard to comprehend this colossal formation without seeing it in person. The deeper you venture into the caverns, the more fascinating it becomes. Having already visited Mammoth Cave NP in Kentucky, we had not expected Carlsbad to dwarf what we had previously seen. Once we reached the resting point in the cave, neither of us could pass up the chance to use flushing toilets 750 feet below ground.

With a very long day behind us, Frank wanted nothing more than to wind down on some authentic Mexican cuisine. Our plan was to drive through the night to Phoenix but with some van troubles, we settled in for yet another night of Wal-Mart parking lot adventures!