After a wash in Amistad’s clear, cool waters (we needed it), we packed up and headed west towards El Paso.
The road west through the desert was hot and there was nearly no traffic. I probably could have lie down and taken a nap in the middle of the lane. At around noon dark storm clouds passed just to the north of us cooling off the air, and we stopped to watch the lightning show.
Back on the road again, the air started to warm, and I noticed what seemed to be small fires spotted across the desert plains to my right and left. They seemed to sprout up and then extinguish only moments later. I soon realized that they were not fires at all, but were instead little dirt cyclones formed by the mixing of the warm and cool air following the rain storm.
As we headed west, mountains grew up around us. Prior to this ride, I didn’t think Texas even had mountains. It wasn’t long before the outline of Capitan (a mountain in Guadalupe NP) was visible on the horizon. Another surprise in an arid, dry desert was the roadside flood gauges the showed up every few miles. It must have been a joke because I just used them as reminders to sip water from my camelback to prevent dehydration.
We arrived at Guadalupe with the trip odometer reading 4356 miles just before the visitor’s center closed which turned out to be a blessing and a curse. We were given great advice as far as a trail and a camping spot for the night, but we paid $5 bucks each for it.
Alex and I don’t use traditional motorcycle luggage for carrying our stuff. We knew that we would be hiking with backpacks often on the trip so we just filled our packs and bungee corded them to our bikes like a passenger. After unloading the gear we didn’t need, repacking light for one night of camping, and covering our bikes, we were about to head up the mountain when we were informed by a park ranger that we needed to move to a different parking spot for the night. Fortunately, he let us throw all of our unpacked, loose gear that we had so meticulously balanced and strapped on our bikes for the night into the back of his pickup and follow him to the overnight parking spot. This setback wasn’t’ more than a little frustration and loss of light, and before long Alex and I were on the trail to the Guadalupe Peak campsites.
On the way to the top Alex and I cleared the air on some backyard conflict that had been brewing over the past few days. (Backyard- meaning it hadn’t been verbally acknowledged or addressed, but we could just both feel tension.) It is so good to have a friend like Alex who will be honest with me about his feelings, and I do my best to reciprocate. The issue boiled down to decision making styles. Each day Alex and I trade off the responsibility of leading. We discuss and consider one another’s input in various decisions throughout the day, but the final decision rests with the leader’s judgment. This has been not only an efficient way to get from point A to point B, but has taught us much about leading and following.
As with most conversations of this type, one issue led to another and we were able to refresh on a lot.
The hike to camp was beautiful and we watched the sun set over the range. After an evening feast of summer sausage and granola bars, we hit the sack. In the morning, we packed up quickly and hit the trail hoping to reach the summit before the heat. On the way up, we passed a heard of mountain rams as well as some white tailed deer.
The view from almost 9,000 feet was beautiful. The surrounding areas were tiny in comparison to the peak we were on. The mountains we had passed on our route from the south east we mere hills marked now only by the shadows cast by the rising sun. The land seemed to be viewed from an airplane.
We took a few pictures and then began our descent. Near the bottom we passed a park ranger that was on his way up (getting paid to do what we were doing). He gave us some suggestions on our route through New Mexico. We have had mixed results with local advice, but he seemed trustworthy, and we set out towards Roswell.
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