April 11
After spending the morning trying to decide where to start, we picked one of the more strenuous trails..an 8.4 mile hike to the top of Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,751 feet. Our portion of the climb stated at an elevation of about 5,000 from the campground. It took us 4.5 hours to reach the top, and we encountered another hailstorm on the way. The mountains are ancient coral reefs, so there were lots of fossils to be seen along the way. That were formed during the Permian period when the land masses were still part of Pangaea. The entire area was near a shore of an inland sea called the Delaware Basin. The reef formed over millions of years until the land changed and the reef itself became a barrier and the land raised and the sea dried up. The exposed reefs now are 8000 feet or more above sea level. Even at the top of the mountain there were fossils of calcite sponges and fusulinds.
The views were beyond spectacular. It was cool to think that everything we could see was under water. The view from the top was a greater area than all of Rhode Island. The only thing stopping us from seeing more was the curve of the earth.
We only spent a few minutes at the peak, as it was very windy, and we wanted to make sure we had enough time to descend before dark.
We are all very tired tonight.
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| You can see the curve of the Earth. |
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| All of us at the top. |
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| Jane reaches the top |
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| Truck having engine trouble on the highway about ten miles away |
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| Lots of these ground beetles over an inch long |
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| Starting on the way down only 4.2 miles to go, all down hill. |
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| Jane about half way up still smiling |
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