Guadalupe Mountains, Day 4
Today we hiked 8.3 miles up Bear Canyon, across the Bowl Trail, and back down Tejas to Pine Springs. We reached Hunter’s Peak and enjoyed the stunning view back toward Guadalupe and the Bowl. Later, we hiked to a point where we could see Hunter’s Peak on far left and Guadalupe on our far right. It was such a nice spot that we decided to eat lunch there and I took a quick nap.
We never thought we’d make it up Bear Canyon with the way things started out in the morning. Doug had to go back to camp after 3/4 of a mile because of blisters. Then the 1.8 miles of Bear Canyon were extremely tough on us. It was almost straight up the entire way, but thankfully the wind was minimal. We thought we had reached the top when we noticed we still about another 500 feet to climb. Ugh. But it was worth it. The rest of the trip was a breeze.
We saw the same group from Denison again, and they were hiking all the way to Mescarmel(?) for the night, about 10 miles with packs and 2 days of water. Wow! Never really saw Charles or Wendy except in the morning. After we got back, we headed over to the Visitor’s Center for some R&R. We watched the slideshow of the Park. What amazes me is how many different species of animals there are. Can you imagine Adam’s job naming all those species… still without a wife. What a task.