SFAU’s Epic New Mexico Park Tour
For our outdoor recreation outing, we decided to take a tour of 3 different national parks throughout West Texas and New Mexico. There were 16 of us total (5 trip leaders: Ava, Maddie, Lilly, Juan, and Sydney) who embarked on this grand adventure. Here is a snapshot of our awesome spring break!
March 7th
We embarked on our adventure at 5 am in the morning, excited for the 10-hour drive from Nacogdoches, Texas, to Guadalupe National Park (well, our participants were excited to sleep the whole time). We sang almost the whole way, ate lunch, and kept spirits high for the upcoming days. Once we arrived in the park, after many stops along the way, at 7 pm, we set up camp and started cooking burgers for dinner. After dinner, we cleaned up the dishes and enjoyed strawberry shortcakes for dessert. Then we settled in for our first night under the stars!
March 8th
We woke up at 7am (after many debates about time zones and daylight savings) we had a slow start to the morning. We ate breakfast tacos, coffee, laughed, and giggled before we headed out towards the trails. The first hike was Devil’s Hallow, which was a 4.2-mile in and out, with lots of fun rock scrambles throughout the whole hike. The most memorable parts of the hike were the natural staircase, walking riverbeds, and lunch at the end of the hollow! Once we were done, we took a gander at the visitor center and gift shop. Our last hike of the day was Smith Springs, a nice 2-mile hike with a slight elevation gain for half of the hike, but worth it for the nice, cold spring in the middle. After dipping our toes in the spring we trekked the last half with the cool shade of the mountain covering us. We drove back to camp and ate yummy cheesy chicken pasta with brownies and camp-made ice cream.
March 9th
We got a very early start to our day with an alarm for 5:30 am. This is because we were hiking to the tippity top of Texas, Guadalupe Peak. We started the day by packing up camp and getting day packs ready to go. We had a bagel-and-oatmeal bar for people to get the fuel they needed to summit the mountain. We got to the trailhead, did a group stretch, and started our hike around 7:20 am. The trail was steep and challenging, but nothing we couldn’t handle. We took breaks and talked about how far we’d come. We got the opportunity to cross the highest footbridge in the United States, which was about 1 mile from the peak. After 4 miles trekking up the mountain, we reached the peak! We were officially at a higher elevation than anyone in Texas. We enjoyed lunch, naps, and recharging in the sun with great views all around us. After about an hour of rest, we began our hike back down. When going down, time really flew! We sang songs and learned all about the story of Gary and the snake (you had to be there). When we reached the bottom, we all felt so proud and accomplished. We took a minute back at camp to relax and then started setting up, cooking, and organizing to get back on the road tomorrow. We had a ramen, chicken, and loaded mashed potato bar, with dirt and worms for dessert (don’t worry, it’s just chocolate pudding, Oreos, and gummy worms). After reminiscing about the day everyone snuggled into their sleeping bags under the stars to get rested up for the next morning.
March 10th
We woke up dark and early at 2am to drops of rain hitting our sleeping bags, after a scramble to set up tents we laid back down and listened to the rain and winds hitting our tents throughout the morning. After our second wakeup call, we packed up camp, stopped by the Guadalupe National Park sign to take a fun group photo, and got our first junior ranger badge of the trip! We waved goodbye to Guadalupe and headed on to our next national park, Carlsbad Caverns. Through our work with the National Park Trust, once we arrived at the caverns, we were greeted by two park rangers who educated us on the geology, history, and aspects of the caverns. Then we went to explore the caves through the natural entrance, descending 750 feet into the earth. On the hike down and the hike through the big room, we saw so many different cave features and formations! After grabbing some snacks and mailing postcards from the bottom of the cave, we braved the elevator up to the surface. We then explored the museum to teach us how to become junior rangers, we grabbed our senior ranger badges, and we were back on the road. We camped nearby in Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and settled in for a windy night.
March 11th
After sleeping in a little bit, we started our drive towards Lincoln National Forest. On the way we took a slight detour to a river where we cold plunged, jumped off rocks, and soaked in the sun. After recharging at the river, we got back on the road and headed towards the mountains. Once we got closer to the campsite it was all beautiful mountain roads with big evergreen trees, elk, and snow! As soon as we arrived at our campsite several people jumped out of the vans, ran for the snow, and had a snowball fight! Once we set up camp, we decided to brave the slopes and sled (with a skim board) down the icy snow right next to our site. After making dinner and sitting around the fire for hours, we tried our hardest to stay warm in our tents throughout the night.
Once the sun woke us up, we started breakfast over the fire and got ready for a day out on the town. We drove into Cloudcroft, a little mountain town, and everyone got to roam around wherever they wanted. We all started out at a little coffee shop, and then went around to thrift stores, outdoor stores, jewelry stores, and trading posts. After spending way too much money, we stocked up on water and then stopped by the Lincoln National Forest Ranger Station, and to our surprise, we got a bonus junior ranger badge. We then hit the trail and hiked to a waterfall! It was such a great hike, with beautiful trees, icy paths, and a cold stream with a waterfall at the end! After dipping our toes in the water, we headed back to watch the sunset at an overlook with a great view of the mountains, White Sands National Park, mule deer, and elk grazing. We ended the night again with a campfire and headed in for a slightly less cold night.
March 13th
We started this morning with decked out pancakes, from chocolate chip, butterscotch chip, strawberries, banana, to a combination of ‘em all. Then we packed up our tents and headed on our way to White Sands National Park. After grabbing some boards, we headed for the dunes. Everyone had such a fun time flying down the sand dunes! After many runs down the dunes we ate some lunch and drove around enjoying the scenery of the dunes. Then we got sworn in for the last of the trip as junior rangers. We stopped on the way back to Carlsbad at pistachio land to see the giant pistachio and taste all the different flavors. After the 3 hour drive we finally made it back to the BLM campsite.
March 14th
We woke up nice and early, 4 am, to hit the road by 5 am. After driving for about 2 hours and barely making it into Texas, we hit some van trouble (our tire blew out). After changing the tire and trying to turn off the parking brake for about 2 hours, we carefully drove into the next town, with a deputy heading up the rear, to try and find a mechanic who could turn off the constant beeping. After no luck and a total delay of 4 hours, we drove the rest of the 8-hour drive and tried to drown out the sound with music. We finally made it back home to Nacogdoches, where everyone unloaded, said their goodbyes, and drove home to their first shower in a week (we were all really stinky). It was such a great trip with amazing people, beautiful scenery, and many adventures.
