Unexpected Drive Through the Badlands
It was bittersweet leaving Big Bend National Park; Katie and I wanted more time to explore, but we also looked forward to our upcoming adventure in the Guadalupe Mountains. We made plans to visit four National Parks within seven days during the off-season of these small and less visited parks: Big Bend, Guadalupe Mountains, Carlsbad Caverns, and White Sands. Monsoon rains are typical during early to mid-summer months, but the drought was in full effect. Additionally, winds were high and the Texas sun was unforgiving. As we approached Guadalupe Mountains we found ourselves without a home for the night as every campsite on the south end of the park was fully reserved. We did find a campground, Dog Canyon, but it was on the north side of the mountain.
In red: where we wanted to camp and the nearest campsite to the Guadalupe Mountain Peak trail. In Blue: the only campsite with open reservations. In pink (coming from Big Bend): our drive to the only access point on the north side of Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
If you don’t have experience driving through mountains, what would typically take a 30-minute drive quickly turns into a 2-3 hour trip. This was not an obstacle that occurred to either of us city slickers. We didn’t want to spend the day on the road, but we didn’t have much of a choice. What we thought would be a dragging trip turned into a peaceful drive through the New Mexico badlands.
Cattle grazed this desert landscape and even stopped us a few times as they took their time crossing the road. This calf was curious about who we were and posed long enough for me to capture this image on my Minolta QT si, Kodak 35 mm film.
We were approaching sunset and wanted to reach our campsite before we lost all light. We drove through rolling hills with the continent’s largest caverns beneath us and eventually made our way through the Lincoln National Forest. We noticed many signs directing travelers toward Native lands, but we didn’t have time to explore the area.
We didn't have much time to stop to enjoy the view. We were coming up on narrow roads with only the sun's and soon-to-be moon's light as guidance to our remote campsite.
We didn’t make camp before losing the sun and the winds were only getting stronger. The moon wasn’t enough light for us to notice how steep the drops were as we drove through the winding roads. Terrified of finding out the hard way, we significantly lowered our speed, adding more time to our journey. Once we made it to Dog Canyon, we set up camp in wind gusts of what felt like over 50 mph. We utilized our gear to weigh down the tent, otherwise, it would have surely flown away. During those few moments of silence, we rushed to prop our tent and anchor each corner. Once we established our new home for the next six hours, we threw our bags in the tent and took a walk with the stars. The surrounding mountains were tall silhouettes against a canvas of stars, our neighbors a herd of deer grazing for a mightnight snack. We should’ve been finding ways to optimize our sleep, but our adrenaline and curiosity kept us up.
The following morning wasn’t as windy as the night. We took our time driving another few hours through the badlands and soaked in the views we couldn’t see from the night’s blanket. Lincoln National Forest was beautiful and I’ve added it to the list of places I need to visit in more depth!
I’d like to emphasize the time when we took our trip: late May is known to bring high winds and minimal water, a perfect cauldron for wildfires. This season was particularly dry and it only took one spark to ignite the dangerous wildfires throughout northern New Mexico. The lack of cell reception kept us ignorant of what was going on around us, but it was later when we visited Carlsbad Cavern that a park ranger informed us of just how close we were to the wildfires.
Lincoln National Forest. June 2022
