Friday morning I started hiking at 7:30 am. There were quite a few people on the trail to Guadalupe Peak by then. The peak stands 8,751 feet tall and from the campground it’s approximately a 3,000 ft elevation gain and 8.4 miles round trip. I was pretty happy with my pace, arriving at the summit 3 hours later. It was a beautiful day, warm, sunny and no wind. I lingered on top, had lunch, scattered a little of Nancy, took photos and then finally headed down around noon. The summit is large and actually has lots of hang out space, so even though there were probably 20 people at any given moment, it didn’t seem crowded. While I was on the summit, I checked messages and learned that my Aunt JoJo, who is 100 years old, survived a hip surgery repair, to fix a previous hip surgery. So it was a great day. She had been on my mind hiking up and I was a little worried about her. But she’s a Chiuppi and were pretty tough.

There were tons of people heading up as I went down. As I was reaching the trailhead, just about 2:30 pm, a woman with 2 kids was just starting up. I asked her if she was planning to go to the top and she said yes. Unbelievable, even if she kept a good pace, 3 hours up and 2 hours down, which beats the park service estimate of 6-8 hours round trip, she’d be lucky to arrive back at the trailhead before dark. I told myself, it wasn’t my concern and moved on.

I hiked down with a young woman, Grace, who was a solo hiker from Austin. We met when she saw me trying to take a selfie and asked if I wanted her to take the photo for me. We had a nice time chatting. She was born in China, and came to the USA when she was 20 and eventually became a US citizen. So we had lots to talk about. She headed back to her Air B&B in Carlsbad and I settled in with a steak, mashed potatoes and a few glasses of wine, I was to lazy to cook vegetables.

Saturday morning I felt pretty good, so I decided to hike to Hunter’s Peak, 8,368 feet, and 8.5 miles round trip. I headed up the Tejas Trail at 9am. After the first couple of miles my legs started getting pretty fatigued. I didn’t make the summit of Hunter’s Peak, but found a nice, large flat clearing on the last shoulder, about a half mile from the peak, had lunch, laid down and took a short nap. The nap refreshed me mentally, but didn’t do much for my legs. I finally made it back to the trailhead around 3:30pm, just in time to see a rescue party form up and start up the Guadalupe Peak Trail with a stokes litter. A couple of hours later the team came down with the victim. From my distant vantage point she seemed to have some sort of ankle injury because she hopped up from the litter onto the bench seat in the parking lot and eventually hobbled into a car. 

Seeing the hoards of people, many who look like out of shape pedestrians, heading up the trail this morning, I’m not surprised. But at least it was not me in the basket. The campground is full tonight, but quiet. I’ll head out tomorrow, Sunday morning, drive to Junction, Texas, and stay in the city park there for free. Monday I’ll drive to Rainbow’s End in Livingston to vote on Election Day.

                                                     Me on the summit 10/30/2020

                                            Nancy & I on the summit January 30, 2005

The monument is dedicated to all the plane pilots that crashed into the mountain before radar was invented.

My nap spot, with the Hunter's Peak in the background

                                           

Happy Halloween and don’t forget to set your clocks back tonight

Tight lines and safe travels

WINTER ARRIVES - GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS NAT. PARK

Monday night was very cold, 20 degrees, had snow, maybe a couple of inches, but really looked like machine made snow back east on the ski slopes, closer to sleet. But for Texas it was snow, and I doubt that most Texans even know there are various types of snow. 

Tuesday, it never really got out of the low 20s. I walked to the Visitor’s Center, toured the museum and then did a short hike up this side of the Tejas trail. It was a winter wonderland. 

Today, Wednesday, I woke to low 20s and 25-30 mph wind, but sunny. Had a great sunrise and finally got motivated to hike to Devil’s Hall, 4.2 miles round trip, after lunch. It’s a moderate hike. The first mile is on a trail, the last mile is in a wash loaded with boulders of various sizes from bowling ball to Volkswagen size. The wash was sheltered from the wind, so I shed a number of layers. Last night, there was only two other campers in the RV lot, tonight, there’s a dozen and I'm sure when I wake there will be more.

My dual 6 volt 240 amp hour battery system, 200 watt solar system. held up well through the cold weather, even with the furnace running most of the night. This morning the batteries were at 56% depth of discharge.  I ran the truck for 30 minutes before the sun was high enough to hit the solar panels, then lowered one end of the roof to tilt the panels southward. By sunset, the battery bank was almost fully charged. Tonight’s low is predicted to be 38 degrees, so with less demand tonight and the predicted sun tomorrow, they should reach full charge. 

Since this blog is also to help others, I have determined that the truck’s alternator does a much better job charging the batteries when they are low. I believe the truck is equipped with a smart alternator which decreases the voltage as the battery gets close to 90 % charged. So if I run the truck, it's first thing in the morning when the batteries are the lowest, then the sun does the rest.

I cooked many meals inside, just to cold and windy to cook outside. I think that will change as the weather is predicted to warm into the high 50s and mid 60s. My plan is to take a slack day tomorrow and then hike to the summit of Guadelupe Peak on Friday, scatter some of Nancy, and return to camp for a steak on the grill and some wine. And yes, for those of you worried about my balanced diet, there will be some sort of vegetable as well. LOL

                                                  Tuesday morning during the storm

                                              Tejas Trail from Pine Springs Tuesday

                                              Reverse Sunrise Wednesday Morning

                                                        The trail to Devil's Hall

                                                                     Devil's Hall

Tight lines and safe travels

Overland from Dog Canyon

On Saturday, 10/24/20, I hiked the Tejas Trail to Lost Peak, which is 3.2 miles with 1,500 ft of elevation gain. Great hike thru a mixed but mostly coniferous forest up the canyon, but the deciduous trees were in color albeit, past peak. The final ascent to the peak is 1/4 mile bushwhack (no trail) to a huge cairn and a summit register. The view and wind were spectacular. After enjoying the view and signing the register and headed down on the Manzanita Route, a 1.5 bushwhack with stone cairns every now and then. I had great verbal directions and made it to Marcus Overlook at the junction of the Bush Mountain Trail and then 2.25 miles back to camp. For a total of 7 miles. Except for the wind, it was a perfect day, sunny and warm.

On Sunday my legs were a bit sore and tired so it was a slack hiking day, 1/2 mile on the Indian Meadow Nature trail, a solar shower and an early cocktail.

Today, Monday, with news that the predicted storm might keep me from driving the overland route from Dog Canyon to the Pine Springs entrance, I decided to leave. It’s a little more than 100 miles, with 30 miles of gravel and another 21 miles of rough pavement. I was advised not to travel it when wet, hence the departure on Monday. Its only about 20 miles shorter than the normal route, but I wanted to see more of the back desert country. I didn’t see another vehicle for the first 40 miles. It was well worth the drive to see the “backside” of GMNP plus I was able to fuel up in Dell City.

When I left Dog Canyon it was sunny. I arrived at Pine Springs Campground with the wind, clouds, 30 degrees and snow flurries. As expected, the place was pretty deserted, only one RV site was taken. My plan is to hunker down until the storm blows through and then hike Guadalupe Peak, 8.4 miles round trip, 3,000 ft elevation gain, to the highest point in Texas, elevation 8,751 feet.

Pine Springs Campground has heated bathrooms with flush toilets and sinks, trash, water, a utility sink for dishes, no wifi, but 2 Verizon bars. There is a Visitor Center with a bookstore, which I'll check out tomorrow.

Rene asked for photos, so here you go, Dog Canyon Campsite, Tejas Trail, Lost Peak and my current campsite at Pine Springs.

 Tight Lines and safe travels 

being More Dog........ off on an extended Enzo trip

 On Friday, October 23, I headed out on my first extended, solo, Enzo (truck camper) road trip, leaving the Moho parked on my new lot at the Ranch. I originally planned a short quick trip to the Livingston/Houston area of Texas to vote and see my dentist and doctors. I planned to leave two days before the election, spend a week in the area and then return to The Ranch.

But after discovering that Eddy County, NM had a huge surge in Covid-19 cases since the end of September, I decided to head out early and spend as much time in the wilderness, isolated from people as I could. 

As background, I was fortunate to spend the summer in Park County, which only had 91 cases, 0.4% based on population, whereas Eddy County has 1,339 cases, 2.2% based on population.

I digress, back to the solo Enzo trip. I packed 14 days of underwear, food, 14 gallons of water and both warm and cold weather clothes. This would get me to Election Day with a cushion, without having to resupply. At about 9am, I signed out at the Ranch and headed south to the Dog Canyon area of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Nancy & I had been to GMNP and number of times in the past, but always to the southern entrance at Pine Springs. Two and half hours later I arrived at Dog Canyon Campground, the northern entrance for GMNP.

Every road trip has to have something happen. Either you forget something, take a wrong turn, my “something” was not realizing the pen I used to sign out, had slide into my cup holder. Therefore, when I turned left onto the highway, my full 16 oz mug flew onto the passenger seat, spilling its entire contents. So much for enjoying a second mug of coffee on the drive.

If you enjoy high desert landscape, with rolling hills, arroyos, canyons and the occasional pump jack, the drive to Dog Canyon is great. Dog Canyon is very remote, even more remote than the Pine Springs entrance. The campground sits at 6,300 feet, consists of 9 tent sites and 4 RV sites (limit 23 ft long). The tent sites are walk-ins, the RV sites are nothing more than a parking lot with a picnic table and trash can at each site. Perfect for me and Enzo. There are two bathrooms with flush toilets and sinks, a utility sink for doing dishes, WiFi, but no showers or dump station. Two sites were occupied, but one rig was leaving, I chose the far southern end site, and settled in. 

I had spoken with a volunteer at the entrance station about hikes available from the campground, so after lunch I headed out on the Bush Mountain trail for a 4.5 mile out and back hike to Marcus Overlook. I was not disappointed. The hike climbs steadily on the edge of the canyon, until you reach a level area, with a 360 degree view of desert canyons and mountains for many miles. I enjoyed the view then headed back to camp for a glass of wine, and steak dinner.

Saturday, I’ll hike Lost Peak, bushwhack across on the unmaintained Manazinita Ridge Route to Marcus Overlook and then return to camp via the Bush Mountain Trail. It’s about 6.5 miles and will include the a portion of the same hike I did Friday, but it will make a nice loop and 2/3 of it will be new trail.

Tight Lines and safe travels

On the Road Again & shit happens

 I have not posted in a very long while simply because I have not traveled for approximately four months, since arriving at my lot in Colorado. Today, after having closed up and locked down everything over the previous two days, I hit the road heading south to a lease lot in NM. I had planned to travel footloose and carefree this winter, but with COVID, I’ll hunker down for the winter and take short trips in the truck camper.

Since the motorhome sat still for the entire summer, I decided to get things ready a couple of days ahead of departure to allow time to make any repairs that might pop up. So much for advanced planning. On October 14th, after dumping the tanks, disconnecting the hoses and power cord, checking all the fluids, tire pressure and even adding 7 psi to the driver’s front tire, I turned the Moho around, backed the truck in to the site and then backed the Moho in. I hooked up the truck, tested all the lights, braking system and everything was fine, I connected the Moho power cord and was done.

When I  decided to do the dishes that evening, the water pump died just as I was filling the sink. I filled up 4 one gallon water containers and went into camping mode. Since the temperature was due to be below freezing, it wasn’t worth connecting the water hose for one night.

Blast off day was October 16th. I awoke at 6am, had breakfast, brought in the slides, stored the jacks and started the moho. While the Moho was airing up, I disconnected the power cord and stored it, then walked around the Moho, the driver’s front tire was completely flat. Evidently, the valve stem extension was about to fail, and when I added the 7 psi, I must have tweaked it just enough to cause it to fail, based on the soapy water test. I removed the extension and the tire held pressure throughout the day with multiple checks. I was able to be on the road by 9:15 am and managed to drive 313 mies to a roadside boon dock just north of Clines Corners, NM.

The moral of the story is that story is………………………… shit happens no matter how much pre-planning and preventative maintenance one does. You just have to roll with it.

I did decide that I would tempt faith and just drive without a firm destination in mind. I knew there was a large rest area just south of the CO-NM border, but I past that at 1pm. I was determined not to pay for a RV site and assumed I would be able to find a boon dock, which I did. Tomorrow, assuming no flat tires, or other mishaps, I will arrive at my winter lot sometime around noon.

The sun has set, the dinner dishes will be left in the sink until I have hookups, I still have plenty of water, but why waste it doing dishes. Time for a drink, a little reading and early to bed, it was a little stressful today, but all things considered, I ended with a smile and a successful day on the road.

By the way, I had a very successful fly fishing summer. To summarize. I caught a 25” Brown Trout the same day I caught 30 Rainbows. My best day was 40 Rainbows in less than 3 hours. I did get skunked a few days, notably, at the Taylor River, Billings Lake and the Dream Stream, but so do many good fly fishers. The Brown was on an Olive Wooley Bugger, but I had some great dry fly days with a small caddis. The days I got skunked, I threw a wide variety with no result.

Tight Lines & Travel Safe