January 15, 2004 - January 19, 2004 Guadalupe Mountains National Park Thursday January 15, 2004 Joe Amaya pulled up to my home in his Chevrolet pickup to begin our camping trip to the Guadalupe Mountains in west Texas. He and I both needed to use some vacation, so we decided to make this outing. He had had knee surgery last June, so we opted to make this a car camping trip to the tent camping area near the Pine Springs Ranger Station, and take in some of the features of the park we haven't had the chance to see before when we go on backpacking trips into the higher elevations of the park. We stopped at McDonald's in Fredricksburg so he could get a quick breakfast, and I got some coffee. We stopped in Pecos for gasoline at the Flying J truck stop, and had some supper at Alfredo's Restaurant in Pecos. We continued on to the park, and pulled up to the Ranger Station. We then went on to the car campground, selected a site, and paid for a camping permit. We put up Joe's tents; a large Eureka dome tent, then a smaller sleeping tent inside the bigger tent in case it got really cold. Friday January 16, 2004 We got up in the morning, had breakfast, and drove up to the visitor center to get the key for the gate to the road to the Williams Ranch house. The Williams Ranch house is on the south end of the park, just on the west side, and is up a 4 wheel drive road about 7 miles long. Neither Joe nor I had ever been there. We drove to the gate, which I unlocked, then pulled in and drove up the bumpy road. The road generally follows the Butterfield Stage Route, which was used in 1858-9 for overland mail. We arrived at the Williams Ranch house, which looked like it had been painted fairly recently. The trim was kind of a bright aqua, with the main part of the house being gray. Quite a contrast to the surrounding desert! We explored the area around the house, then hiked up the El Capitan Trail a short distance to the Shumard Backcountry campsite. This is one of the few backcountry campsites neither Joe nor I have stayed at before; it being over 9 miles from the trailhead at Pine Springs. There were six or seven tent pads at this site. We continued hiking a short distance up the El Capitan Trail, the turned back and returned to the ranch house. We then hiked a way off trail up Bone Canyon, looking for Bone Spring, the source of water for the Williams Ranch. We didn't hike far enough to get to the spring, though we did hike fairly far up the canyon. The remains of the pipe used to convey water to the ranch house can still be seen along the canyon. We then returned to the ranch house, got in Joe's truck, drove back to the highway, then back to Pine Springs. In the late afternoon, I put up my portable 40 meter dipole (Amateur Radio antenna) to use with Rockmite. The trees were not very tall, so I wasn't able to put it very high. We had supper in the evening, then I fired up my Rockmite while sitting in the big dome tent, and worked KI7UN in Oregon. Later, I worked KB6TAL in Willcox, Az. Not bad for half a watt and an antenna perhaps 12 feet up (at the center)! Saturday January 17, 2004 Joe and I got up, had breakfast, then put on our day packs and hiked the along Frijole Trail. This trail follows the base of Frijole Ridge, on the east side of the Guadalupe Mountains. The weather was cool, overcast, and kind of windy. We followed the Frijole Trail to it's junction to the Smith Springs Trail, which we then followed to Smith Spring. There was a nice stopping place, with a couple benches at Smith Spring, so we stopped there and had a snack. We continued north on the Smith Spring Trail a short distance, then continued off trail to look for Juniper Spring. We crossed a couple steep ravines. Along a ridge above us, we saw a few javalena trotting along. We finally found Juniper Spring, or what was left of it. It appears to have been alot more active before; it was largely surrounded with dead trees now. We made our way back across the ravines to the Smith Spring Trail, and followed it Frijole Ranch. The day continued to be gray and overcast, with a small amount of snow coming down. At the ranch, we got on the Foothills trail, and followed it back to the trailhead at Pine Springs. In the evening, Joe and I had supper. I played with the Rockmite a little, and chatted with K8ORD/7 in Cave Creek, Az. Sunday January 18, 2004 Joe and I got up and had breakfast. I played with the Rockmite a little in the morning, and briefly had W9VE/M, a mobile station in Dallas, but fading took my signal out. We went to the Ranger station, and picked up the key to the sand dunes area on the west side of the park. We drove along 62/180 to Salt Flat, then turned north to Williams Road, and followed it eastward to the park service gate. We parked Joe's truck in the parking area, then walked the remaining mile to the gypsum sand dunes. The sand dunes are impressive, and reach about 30 feet tall. I noticed they have a sharp aroma, which could be detected from time to time when the breeze was just right. We hike around a bit on the dunes, then returned to Joe's truck. We drove in to Dell City, and explored the town, then decided to drive a complete circuit around the Guadalupe mountains. We continued driving north to El Paso gap, then up to 285, then down to Carlsbad. We refueled the truck, then stopped at the Golden Corral in Carlsbad for supper. It was nearly dark when we got back to the campground, so turned in. Monday January 19, 2004 This was our day to return to the Austin area, so we made a point of getting up early. I brought down my antenna and packed up my QRP gear, then we packed up the tents, disassembled the stove, and proceeded to load everything in the truck. We drove to the Pine Springs Ranger Station, which had just opened, so things timed out perfectly. I picked up a few postcards to use as QSLs, then we continued the drive home. We stopped at the Flying J truck stop for breakfast, refueled the truck, then enjoyed hot showers. We stopped again in Ozona for lunch, and had a pleasant drive back. Joe dropped me off at my home in Dripping Springs before continuing on to Austin.