One benefit of the Texas Rest Area south of Van Horn was that Tom and I both had excellent cell reception. After three days of being mostly offline in the National and State Parks, we had a little bit of catching up to do, as well as planning our next steps. We knew we were heading towards Guadalupe and Carlsbad, but had no idea of our timing or where we were staying, or even how far the parks were from where we were parked. Tom found that Guadalupe was only about two hours away, so he booked a campsite for two nights since we knew we could easily reach it the next day. Then, he started looking at weather reports for the next few days, and found out that a high wind warning had been issued for the Guadalupe Mountains area, starting the next afternoon. We don’t especially like driving our high profile camper in any wind, and the 30-60mph winds they were predicting, with (gulp) 85mph gusts, were enough to make us worry and rethink our plans. We went to bed that night planning to be up early to make a decision on what to do. After considering canceling our reservation, we finally decided that we would get a quick breakfast and get on the road as quickly as possible so we could get to the park before the windstorm started.
Our plan worked, and we pulled into the Guadalupe Mountains National Park Visitors’ Center at 11AM, which was actually 10AM since the park is in the Mountain Time Zone. We had to figure out how to hard set our phones and watches, since apparently the park is right on the edge of the time zone change and phones don’t catch it. But, since there was still no wind, and we couldn’t even get into our campsite until noon, we headed down the road to the Frijole Ranch where we had a great tour of the ranch, as well as a nice 2.5 mile hike on a loop trail that passes two springs that served the ranch.
We finished our hike around 12:30, so we drove back to the campground. I have to admit that I think the National Park Service could do a little better, since we’re paying $20 a night to park in a parking lot that doubles as an RV lot and a trailhead parking lot. Restrooms are available, as well as water from a hydrant, but the hydrant doesn’t allow a hose to be hooked up so RVs can’t fill their tanks, and the park doesn’t have a dump station. However, I also know from talking to National Park personnel that the National Parks are at a bit of a crossroads because they’ve become much busier over the past few years, they don’t have the infrastructure to support the increased traffic, and putting in the infrastructure goes against the National Park Service’s mission to preserve the National Lands. Many of the parks we’re heading to over the next few weeks don’t even offer camping, because there are so many free to cheap options on BLM land and other government owned lands that it just isn’t worth it. Guadalupe is in a strange position because Texas doesn’t have BLM land, and nearby rest areas aren’t conducive to camping, so taking the path of least resistance probably isn’t really a bad plan, even if they don’t look so great compared to other National Parks where we’ve stayed.
All of that aside, we decided that it wasn’t a bad place to hunker down and ride out the windstorm since there’s nothing to fly around in the wide open lot, and the lot is slightly protected as it is surrounded by mountains. And, we were there early enough that we were able to take another 4-mile hike to the Devil’s Hall in the afternoon. On the trailhead sign, the hike is billed as “moderate,” and the estimated hiking time is 2-3 hours. However, I’d read on the park alerts that storms over the past couple of years have pushed boulders into the trail, so they’ve changed the classification to “strenuous” and the estimated hiking time to 3-5 hours. We took off around 2:30, and decided to see how far we could get in an hour, giving ourselves time to turn around and come back if it looked Iike it would take us longer than 3 hours, which would put us pretty close to sunset, not to mention the time when the wind advisory was going to change to a wind warning.
All of that aside, we decided that it wasn’t a bad place to hunker down and ride out the windstorm since there’s nothing to fly around in the wide open lot, and the lot is slightly protected as it is surrounded by mountains. And, we were there early enough that we were able to take another 4-mile hike to the Devil’s Hall in the afternoon. On the trailhead sign, the hike is billed as “moderate,” and the estimated hiking time is 2-3 hours. However, I’d read on the park alerts that storms over the past couple of years have pushed boulders into the trail, so they’ve changed the classification to “strenuous” and the estimated hiking time to 3-5 hours. We took off around 2:30, and decided to see how far we could get in an hour, giving ourselves time to turn around and come back if it looked Iike it would take us longer than 3 hours, which would put us pretty close to sunset, not to mention the time when the wind advisory was going to change to a wind warning.
When we got back, we decided that the hike was well worth the difficulty, especially since we got to the camper just as the wind was starting to pick up around 4:45. We took the dogs out for a quick walk, and shut ourselves in our safe little home. We made and ate dinner, all the while listening as the wind got louder and gustier, rocking the camper to the point where we made sure our Yetis had their lids on and sealed. By the time we were ready to go to bed, we decided it wasn’t even worth taking the dogs out for last time. Even though we weren’t too worried about things blowing around on the basically bare parking lot, we figured better safe than sorry and we would deal with the consequences in the morning.
Nobody slept too much last night. I don’t think the 85mph gust estimates were exaggerated, and there were times when the howling wind sounded like a train running into the camper. Things were banging together in the closets, the truck springs were creaking, and sleet was hammering the skylights. We felt more like we were on a boat in slightly choppy waters rather than in a camper on wheels in a parking lot. Shortly before bed a big class A pulled into the spot right next to us, which turned out to be a really good thing for us since they served as a wind block on one side. We weren’t overly worried about any major damage since we know how well built the rig is, but between the noise and the motion, sleep was just about impossible. It was still windy when we decided to get up, but the sun was shining and the tops of the ice covered mountains were sparkly and beautiful. And, all three dogs made it through the night, although it didn’t take them long to do their business when Tom took them out. The wind has gradually decreased over the course of the day, but between chilly temperatures and the breeze, we’ve spent most of the day in the camper.
We have reservations to tour Carlsbad Caverns tomorrow morning, which we will do on the way to our next stop at Brantley Lake State Park in New Mexico. While the many boondocking options in New Mexico are really attractive, the morning temperatures are supposed to be in the low 20s, so we’re going to spend a few dollars and stay at a campground where we can again plug in our electric heater. After that we’re heading for White Sands, where we plan to really get into the boondocking part of our trip.
Nobody slept too much last night. I don’t think the 85mph gust estimates were exaggerated, and there were times when the howling wind sounded like a train running into the camper. Things were banging together in the closets, the truck springs were creaking, and sleet was hammering the skylights. We felt more like we were on a boat in slightly choppy waters rather than in a camper on wheels in a parking lot. Shortly before bed a big class A pulled into the spot right next to us, which turned out to be a really good thing for us since they served as a wind block on one side. We weren’t overly worried about any major damage since we know how well built the rig is, but between the noise and the motion, sleep was just about impossible. It was still windy when we decided to get up, but the sun was shining and the tops of the ice covered mountains were sparkly and beautiful. And, all three dogs made it through the night, although it didn’t take them long to do their business when Tom took them out. The wind has gradually decreased over the course of the day, but between chilly temperatures and the breeze, we’ve spent most of the day in the camper.
We have reservations to tour Carlsbad Caverns tomorrow morning, which we will do on the way to our next stop at Brantley Lake State Park in New Mexico. While the many boondocking options in New Mexico are really attractive, the morning temperatures are supposed to be in the low 20s, so we’re going to spend a few dollars and stay at a campground where we can again plug in our electric heater. After that we’re heading for White Sands, where we plan to really get into the boondocking part of our trip.
