Guadalupe - Guadalupe Peak Trail

The most important hike to take when visiting Guadalupe Mountains National Park is the trail to Guadalupe Peak itself - the highest point in the state of Texas at 8,751 feet. The trail gains 3,000 feet in elevation and the round trip is about 9 miles. We figured that might near the limits of what we could do in one day, but we had all day and also figured if we took it slow we'd be fine. That's what we did and we succeeded in accomplishing our goal. We also decided to do it on our first full day to make sure our feet didn't start with any blisters.

All the literature said the first couple of miles was the hardest; I don't know that I'd agree. That portion may have been the steepest, until the last final ascent, but the entire route was uphill in one direction and downhill in the other. It's a heavily used trail, even during the week when school is in session, so we passed - and were passed by - several hikers. 

On our return we detoured to check out the wilderness campsite and then ended by taking the "horse trail" which was less steep. As you can see, we had a beautiful, sunny, pleasant day for our adventure.