The highest point in Texas lies in the Guadalupe Mountains, 100 miles east of El Paso, Texas and 50 miles southwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico. High desert and mountain landscape mingle to create beautiful and unique scenery. Guadalupe Peak lies within the Guadalupe Mountain National Park giving visitors tons of recreation options in addition to summiting the peak.
Hiking the Guadalupe Peak Trail
The first three miles of Guadalupe Peak Trail present the majority of difficulty in reaching the highest point in Texas. The last mile though, is quite nice and incredibly scenic as it meanders slowly to the summit. This was definitely my favorite mile of the trail, although that might have mostly been the fact that I dropped my 30+ pound backpack off at the spur trail to the camping sites instead of choosing to keep it on my back for the summit.
Winter Hiking in Texas
On the day my hiking partner and I hiked to Guadalupe Peak in January, the high was only about 53 degrees and there were wind gusts of up to 50 mph. We felt those gusts in their full power especially the last 20 or so minutes of the hike and of course on the summit. Amusingly enough (for only me though) this was where I learned of B’s heights+wind fear. He presented it by never standing up fully straight while on the summit itself, which poor guy, was hilarious to me. But we survived and ultimately had a great time of it exploring the summit, landscape and views.
The 8.5 mile roundtrip hike is certainly doable in one day if you are in adequate shape and bring plenty of water -seriously there is no water to be found on the mountain, you have to bring it with you and the park rangers recommend you drink a gallon of water per person per day – and snacks. Your total elevation gain is about 3,000 miles and being that your starting elevation is over 5,000 feet, it can be tough on lungs accustomed to a much lower daily elevation.
Guadalupe Peak stands at 8,751 feet over Texas and offers truly incredible views; not just at the summit but also along the majority of the trail itself. A tall stainless steel pyramid built in 1958 marks the summit. One side of the pyramid features a tribute to Pony Express Riders, the second side has the Boy Scouts of America logo and the third side shows the American Airlines logo who originally sponsored the pyramid.
There is a ton of useful information on the NPS website for those preparing on visiting the highest point in Texas themselves.