Guadalupe Mountain National Park, Texas

      From Carlsbad we visited Guadalupe Mountain National Park located in West Texas.

The park in home to the highest peak in Texas. It was a very dry desert  drive from Carlsbad.

Because of the dryness there were several large fires in the park which limited access to many areas of the park. Most trails were closed but we did find a few short areas to hike.

 

 

     The area is a desert landscape with  some desert plants blooming.

 

We did hike a trail from the visitors center that took us to the remnant of a Butterfield Stage overland mail route facility.

       We did have lunch at the Pipe Spring parks campground behind the visitor center. Park is a paved "parking lot", with 39 sites and flush toilets. Water is available. 

We also visited the Frijole Ranch not far from the visitors center.

Very interesting history about a half mile of gravel road to the ranch. It was extremely hot but a little cooler at the shade at the ranch.

The spring make living here possible

The school house and quarters of the teacher

Then it was back to Carlsbad for the night. The next morning we were off for Santa Fe.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

    June 5th to the 9th. Not only did we want to visit the caverns at Carlsbad Caverns National Park  we wanted to see the bats. Several times we were close to this area but the bats were somewhere in Mexico and not at the caverns.
     The caverns were spectacle. We did the Kings Palace tour. Our guide was super. She told all about the history of the finding of the caverns to present day. You take and elevator down 75 stories. It is a little chilly. Many wet floors so wear the appropriate footwear and bring a jacket.  When she turned out the lights it was black dark, the only way I can describe the darkness.

The road to the caverns has a few switch backs and a few steep parts.

Lunch 75 stories below ground level

So many pictures we had a hard time choosing just a few. Again this is one of those you have to go there to really appreciate the beauty.

 A great relief from the 100 + degrees above ground.

      The amphitheater looking at the opening where the bats fly out of was very nice. The only problem was the seats are concrete and very hard to sit on for any length of  time. Tip - take a cushion. It did get fairly full.    

The white looking spots are the bats coming out of the cave. Hard to  get a good photo. We did see some larger groups but by time you get the camera up they are gone.

 thanks for following along.

Need help idenifing these two pictures

Need a little help
 What type of quail, if this is what it is?  Scaled Quail see comments

Is this a otter? Never saw one with spots. It was near a water source.  Spotted ground squirrel   see comments, thank you Susan

Saw these both in New Mexico.

Trip From Pecos TX to Carlsbad Caverns Nal Pk, NM

     The trip from Pecos Texas to Carlsbad Caverns  National Park in New Mexico along route 285 was a bit rough. It was 105 degrees in and around Pecos. The road was just 2 lanes with very narrow shoulders. Many tank trucks and oil rig equipment on the road made the road rough. Not much to see other them oil rigs, many burning off gas.

 

 

 

Escapees Tra Park Pecos Texas, trip west 20216

The Escapees Tra Park in Pecos is in western Texas in the middle of no where and in oil country. There is not much in the area. We just used the park as a overnight stop.

    The staff was very friendly. There are not many spots for transients. The park is a large gravel lot with full hook ups. The sites reserved for transients are side by side that is one pulls in from one direction and the next pulls in from the other direction. The sites are very close. Most sites were full of oil field workers. Overall the park was quite and clean. Easy access from I 10. The park is just average but was good for us. There are restaurant and shopping close to the park. Very little noise from the interstate. Didn't check out the other facilities.

A little close

Beautiful sunset

Small cement patio

The workers

Peach Country RV Park, Stonewall Texas trip west 2016

     It was about a 290 mile long trip from Livingston to Stonewall Texas. We were at Peach Country RV Park between Jonson City and Fredericksburg. We had stayed here in the pasted and knew it was a easy park to get in and out of, right along 290, with long pull thru sites. The only slow down getting here was getting through Austin.  After that it was a gray landscape with not much to see for many miles. This area changed a lot in that there are now a lot more wineries here then when we visited last. This is a nice area to visit as you are just a couple of miles From the Lyndon B. Johnson National Historic Park. You are on about 6 miles from Fredericksburg and the National Museum of the Pacific War sometimes called the Admiral Nimitz museum and a great town. Much history and great restaurants  Plus there are many other things to do and visit in the area. We had spent about six months here in the past and we were just passing through.   

Nice long pull thru sites

The new office