March 16-Guadalupe National Park, TX

We had a little trouble with the rig overheating on our drive to Carlsbad Caverns so we lost a day on the road. Had to stop and pressure wash the radiator to get things to cool down. Too much dust in Texas I guess. We got fabulous views of El Capitan on the way into the park. We are now surrounded by the Guadalupe Mountains at a small campground inside the National Park. The mountains themselves were formed as an ancient marine fossil reef 260-270 million years ago. At that time a huge tropical ocean covered portions of Texas and New Mexico (that’s what formed CCaverns as well). Eventually the sea evaporated and the reef was buried in sediments and mineral salts, until it was uplifted forming the mountains. They are incredibly beautiful and go straight up three thousand feet, on three sides of our campground. Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8749 feet, is right in front of us. The campground itself is already at 5,700 feet so it’s nice and cool up here. Whew. If you hike the area I gather you can find fossilized evidence of the sea. I’ve been sitting here looking at the most incredible view writing a paper about cognitive development in young children instead of exploring…good thing I like my coursework! Carlsbad Caverns are only 35 miles away so we will drive up there tomorrow and leave the rig here (don’t want to push our luck with any more overheating).

We just returned from a short hike and the nature talk at the visitor center. Great talk with beautiful slides of the area at all different seasons. He explained all the plants and animals in the area. Very well done talk. Nice and dark when the talk was over so the walk back to the campground was amazing. The sky is REALLY dark in Texas so the stars really shine. The only constellations I remember are the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia…Dad would be ashamed of me! He would have loved this night sky though. A telescope would be wonderful up here.