Guadalupe Mountains

Located in very remote northwest Texas, just a few miles from New Mexico, Guadalupe Mountains is all wilderness and desert. Water is scarce. And the fierce winds literally blow the hat off your head.

Guadalupe Mountains ranks as the sixth-least visited National Park in the continental U.S. (with only 151,000 visitors in 2020), and we could see why.

It's worth a visit if you are heading to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, about 40 minutes away. But admittedly, this was not our favorite park. (A lot of that had to do with the inconsistencies of the first-come, first-serve camping policy. The campsite hosts told us an empty site was listed as occupied and would not let us have it, but then they let the next person who asked them about it take it instead).

The most famous hike is to the Top of Texas, Guadalupe Peak. I had grand ideas that we were going to do that 8-mile hike. But with temperatures in the upper 90s and after four days of hiking at Big Bend, we offered ourselves some grace and admitted we were not up for the challenge.

Instead, we opted for the really cool Devil's Hall Trail, which is only about 4 miles. This is a well-maintained trail for the first mile. Then the fun begins as you enter a rocky wash and must climb and scramble over large boulders to get to the trail's namesake feature. But first, you must climb the steep Hiker's Stairs, which were easier to go up than down.

We found fossils on a hike along the McKittrick Canyon nature trail. And we came across a rarity around here, a water source, on Smith Springs Trail. The boys even drank some of the water through my husband's survival straw.

If you're in the area - or heading to Big Bend and/or Carlsbad Caverns - it is a worthy side-trip. To be fair, had we hiked to the Top of Texas and/or if we had been able to snag a campsite, I would probably give it higher marks.