“She’s touring the facilities” – Cake
We completed our tour of Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas today! I’m the last person to write today, so I’ve already read what the girls have written and I think I need to clarify my attitude toward today’s hike. As I’ve written all along my biggest concern this summer is heat. And if it is 100 degrees out, or even anywhere near that, no one in their right mind would climb a mountain! Fortunately, the forecast high for the day was only 85 at the Visitor Center near the base of the mountain and we were told that we could probably expect a 10 degree drop once as we got to the summit with 15 mile/hour winds. That forecast was totally manageable!
The first mile and a half and 1000 vertical feet actually flew by for me. It felt good to be on the trail, there was a cool breeze blowing on us, and everyone was in good spirits. In fact the rest of the hike really wasn’t that bad either. We just kept making steady progress, resting when we needed to and having the occasional snack. We reached the summit a bit before noon and I felt just as on top of the world as I have on all the other summits we’ve reached. There’s no other feeling like it.
We chatted for a bit with some of the other hikers who reached the summit around the same time we did. Guadalupe Peak was a lot less crowded than most of the mountains in Colorado we’ve climbed. I think we only saw 8 or so other parties all day. We enjoyed our PBJ&C’s, wished we’d thought to bring a beer, took some pictures, signed the log and began the trek back down.
It took us about 3.5 hours to climb up the mountain and just over 2 to climb back down. Although the aerobic exercise was a lot easier on the way down it is a lot tougher on leg muscles and joints. I think both Molly and I had a rougher go of the trip down, especially since we only stopped to rest a couple times. Summitting the highest mountain in Texas was a pretty awesome accomplishment for us though and I’m glad we were able to push all the way through!
The afternoon was a blur of swimming, shopping for more liquids (the guy at Walmart must have thought I had severe hydration issues as I checked out with only 7 gallons of water, a case of Coors Lite, and 2 bottles of Orange Fanta), dinner at yet another awesome taco joint, laundry, showering, and writing.