25 March 2018
I got a great night of sleep at Jo’s but I waked her with my coughing as I was getting up. She made me toast and tea with a side of Texas sized blueberries and we had breakfast together, covering new territory with out conversations. I reluctantly bid adieu around 7:30 am and headed for Guadeloupe Mountains National Park. The traffic around San Antonio was the lightest I have ever seen it – the benefit of an early Sunday morning departure.
Some of you may know that after I chucked graduate school at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson (I just couldn’t face the idea of publish or perish nor did I think I was any good at original thinking and research) I went to live with my cousin Jo in San Antonio in 1984. I lived with her for several months at her old address while holding down some really odd jobs. Later, I temporarily relocated to Atlanta before the call came through for my years at Broward College. So, in essence, San Antonio is fairly familiar to me.
I-10 west carries you to within 2 hours of the Guadeloupe Mountains. I made pretty good time since the speed limit was 80 mph most of the way (the cargo box is rated for 85 mph). It came through without any problem but there was a little movement when some semi met you on the road.
The drive is quite beautiful, albeit flat as a pancake for a while. Only when you get close to the Guadeloupe Mountains do you begin to see some significant hills and terrain. Oil, oil and more oil is the business of this region. They are either pumping it out of the ground via the conventional method or fracking it out. Even with all the oil rigs and pumps and fracking stations, the wide open Texas skies are absolutely stunning.
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The White City address is adjacent to Carlsbad Caverns National Park (I visited the caverns in 1972) and signage suggested you can find camping within the park. Not so. After driving 7.1 miles to the welcome center, I was told that the only camping was in White City (nothing but RV camping) or a state park north of Carlsbad. I opted for a hotel room in Carlsbad.
I’m a member of Choice Rewards which gives you points for a stay. I checked Choice options out and the rooms began at $254 per night! With my membership, I got it at $250. Even so, that’s almost as expensive as the Hilton in New Orleans. I’m now camping at the Quality Inn and Suites in Carlsbad for three nights. I’m sure if I had chucked the idea of camping due to no reservations and reserved a hotel room 6 months ago, I could have gotten a much better rate. Oh well.
I’m about an hour drive from the park in Carlsbad so I’ll need to get up super early tomorrow to try my hand at climbing Guadeloupe Peak.
Most Texans know the peak as Signal Peak, but whether you called it Guadeloupe Peak or Signal Peak, it’s the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet above sea level (I erred in previously blogging it at over 9,000). The roughest part of the climb is the first mile and then it gets slightly less strenuous. There is a 3,000 foot elevation gain from the beginning of the trail head. The park recommends hikers set aside 6-8 hours for a round trip of a little over 8 miles.
I have no idea if I am physically able to climb this but I’m going to give it a try. If you don’t read a blog post from me tomorrow night, I either fell off the mountain or died of a heart attack somewhere on the peak. Wish me luck!
