As a park ranger at the Guadalupe’s in the 1970’s and 1980’s, I’ve been on that awesome trail several times and your video brought back great memories for me. Well done. It inspires me to want to return. Thanks!
Wow, that’s high praise considering your personal experience with the park. Thank you so much, that means a lot to me 🙂 I hope you’re able to get out there soon! Did you work at other parks too?
@@ChucoHiker Yes, Carlsbad Caverns & Big Bend National Parks. Davis Mountains State Park, too. They were all great experiences but Guadalupe Mountains is most memorable for me. It was the early years of the park and very few visitors. Lots of wildlife and few employees with a care-free attitude while still protecting the park. Before the road to McKittrick canyon was built, we shuttled visitors to and from the now gone visitors center (a trailer) over a very rough gravel road. I hope you can return to GUMO another time. I sure enjoyed your video. Thanks!
@@gumotx That’s awesome, you’ve been all over this area! I love GUMO now, I can’t imagine how cool it must’ve been in the early days. Fortunately I am able to go to GUMO several times a year, just did a quick day hike to Hunter Peak a couple of weeks ago :)
Thank you! This is the first video I ever did for RU-vid, and there are so many things I’d do differently with all the lessons learned if I were to make this video today. However there is something special about it being the first, and knowing people still enjoy it is always nice to hear 🙂 Thanks so much for watching! 🙏🙏🙏
I skipped way back to see this one. That is one crazy beautiful hike. I did this year's ago on a New Years Eve. I had it all to myself and was rained on off and on while climbing and 50 mph sustained winds all night. This brought back those memories very vividly. Thanks for that and your commentary was spot on. Great job ✌
Oh wow, that sounds like quite a night. Parts of that trail would be pretty sketchy in those conditions! Gotta love GUMO :) Hopefully the wind wasn’t too bad in the trees at the campsite, although I bet it was pretty loud regardless. Thanks for watching :)
That was one of the BEST videos I've seen of this park,( if you don't make videos for a living,you need to),the music was great,also your wife should get a trophy for going with you. She also needs to have another hiking stick.
Thank you very much for the compliment :). I agree, two poles are better than one! We were sharing a pair of poles on that particular trip though, heh-heh. I also agree that she deserves a trophy. She’s pretty amazing :)
Nicely done, guys. The music was very well chosen. Kudos to your wife; she was a real trooper. Thank you. I lived in El Paso for 20 years and never did this hike. I'm hoping to tackle it solo this March.
That’s awesome man, best of luck on the solo hike! You’re right, she is a true trooper :) It’s been a few years since I’ve done McKittrick Ridge, I’m eyeballing a return trip myself one of these days. Thanks for the kind words and for watching!
Hey bud, great video. One of the best I've seen from GUMO. I subbed to your channel. Keep the GUMO videos coming. I live everything that has to do with those mountains.
Thanks! That means a lot coming from you. Your videos of the park were a big part of my pre-Hike research and a big inspiration for making some vids of my own. I definitely appreciate the sub :)
Me and 8 of my buddies backpacked in 4 years ago Absolutely breathtaking! Your not kidding about those Switch backs they are brutal!😥😅 But so worth it!
Thanks for watching! I’m actually just now coming back from another backpacking trip at the Guads. I went with Ultralight Outdoors, you should check out his channel, he has tons of Guadalupe Mountains clips. Did you stay at McKittrick Ridge?
Yes we did. On the way back we took the trail that goes west to the cliffs and came out on the tejas trail. It was absolutely beautiful. We actually came back this past weekend from camping at the tejas camp site, the fall color's were Gorgeous!
@@johnnydriedger3766 I wonder if we passed each other by. Ultralight Outdoors and I hiked past Tejas to Mescalero camp this past weekend. Funny how the world turns :)
NPS reports visitation numbers at this website: irma.nps.gov/STATS/SSRSReports/National%20Reports/Annual%20Park%20Ranking%20Report%20(1979%20-%20Last%20Calendar%20Year) If you filter by National Park, and then check each year, you’ll see that Guadalupe Mountains National Park consistently ranks in the bottom 20% for the last decade. From 2010-2018 it was ranked 50 or 51 out of 62. In 2019, it climbed a couple of spots to 49 though. Thanks for watching!
Nice! Hope your trip goes well, and thanks for the compliment. I don’t remember the exact temps now, it’s been a couple of years. It was chilly without a jacket, but not freezing cold or anything. So maybe upper 40s to low 50s at the coldest.
Hi ChucoHiker. Can you give me some tips on making the hike and camp? I'm going with my girlfriend and would love to hear from you on any tips on gear that was necessary and any that wasn't. Any other tips on making it a great trip would be appreciated. Love this video, man. Thank you!
Thanks for the compliment! I don’t know what you’re comfortable with hiking-wise, but I can’t emphasize water enough. There aren’t any real sources deeper in, so make sure you are carrying all you need. This time of year is pretty hot as well, sun protection is a must. If you can wait until fall, it’s a much prettier hike and a lot less toasty. Other than that your typical 3-season setup is likely sufficient. Just make sure you know your limits. The National Park Service bills this trail as the toughest hike in the park coming from Mckittrick Canyon. You can also approach from dog canyon, which is supposed to be much easier. I haven’t done it that way yet though. Last thing I’d suggest is contacting the park rangers to get tips and updates on trail conditions. Hope you have a great trip, GUMO is a special place. And if you’re a geology buff, the park itself is an exposed Permian reef. Plenty of marine fossils abound.
