This post is the last of three describing an overland route we took through the Guadalupe Mountains in New Mexico. You can skip to Part 1 or Part 2 (which was mostly off-road) to begin. This part of the trip was partly over paved roads we drove after leaving the Lincoln National Forest.
Flooding in The Guadalupe Mountains
Returning down Klondike road through Goat Canyon, we noticed many large pieces of driftwood caught up in the trees – some as high as twelve feet above ground. If rain is forecast for the area be extremely cautious about traversing forest roads along creeks like this one which are prone to flash flooding.
We left our campsite near the Guadalupe Mine/Queen of the Guadalupes cave and continued on toward the lookout point farther down Guadalupe Ridge road. We weren’t able to take any photos there, as dark skies were approaching, and we thought it best to get on down the mountain to lower ground. Winding our way around and back down to Cougar road, we took the Queens highway into the small town of Queen, where we stopped at a memorial to Frank Kindel, the “Flying Paperboy” of New Mexico.
Frank Kindel was a larger-than-life local figure who, in the days before satellite TV and internet reached the back-country, used his small plane to drop off newspapers for families living on isolated ranches. More on Mr. Kindel and his interesting life can be found on Roadside America.
Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park in Carlsbad
For many years we’ve passed through Carlsbad, New Mexico without ever stopping at the Living Desert State Park. This time we stopped and enjoyed a 1.3 mile tour of their native animal zoo. It several species that are native to the Chihuahuan desert, including mountain lions and javelina. We don’t really like seeing any wild creatures held captive in a zoo; however, all of the animals here – for various reasons – cannot be released back to the wild.
According to the park ranger we spoke with, these animals were either injured or imprinted on humans at an early age. A couple of them, including the Mexican Grey wolf, are involved in breeding programs aimed at helping replenish the species. The program to save the Mexican Grey wolf involves releasing bred-in-captivity wolves in remote areas, including the Ladder Ranch, a 156,439-acre property in south central New Mexico that’s owned by Ted Turner.
The enclosures were amply sized, but seeing these creatures so far from their native environment wasn’t our favorite thing about the park.
The Visitors Center itself was one of the best parts of Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State park in Carlsbad. There, we found some great interpretive exhibits on the plants, animals and geology of the region (which includes Carlsbad Caverns) and about the rich Native American history of the region.
The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State park offers the opportunity for everyone (including those who aren’t into back-country exploration) to see what the different desert regions, such as wetlands, pinion hills and the sand hills, look like up close. The five-dollar entry fee was well worth it, but we were ready to get back to some more remote natural surroundings. After airing our tires back up at a gas station, we headed off toward Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
Park Reservation Mistake
Unfortunately, there aren’t much in the way of dispersed camping opportunities on this side of the Guadalupe Mountains, south of Carlsbad. The only places near the national park (that we know of) to camp are Brantley Lake State Park (fee area), along with Chosa camping area between Mile Marker 8 and 9 on US 62/180, and Sunset Reef campground located between mile marker 10 and 11 off US 62/180 (both free). There is vault toilet at Sunset, but none at the Chosa camping area.
Smugly, we’d driven right past both of the BLM areas, already having a two-night reservation at the Pine Springs Campground in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Upon arrival, we realized that we’d made the mistake of choosing a site which we thought would allow us to park and set up our rooftop truck tent. The park ranger let us know that, even if we were willing to sleep in the back of our truck at the entrance to the tent camping area, it wasn’t allowed.
We reluctantly drove back up to the Chosa BLM campground, where we found a spot which was a bit less noisy than camping beside a Houston freeway. RV’ers here at least have a couple inches of foam between them and the road to dull the noise, but not so for us tent campers.
The noisy BLM camping area at Chosa wasn’t our favorite part of the trip, but the next day would be one of the best. We visited McKitrick Canyon in Guadalupe Mountains National Park the next morning and the fall colors there we saw there were amazing. We hiked nine miles out and back to “The Notch”, which is farther along the trail, on past the Pratt Cabin.
You can see more photos of our hike into McKitrick Canyon on our post here.
Backroads In Texas
As we headed toward home, we tried to take as many gravel back-roads as possible, which led us to one of the least known lakes in Texas – Red Bluff Lake – located about 40 miles north of Pecos. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife website, this 11,000 acre lake features a camping area near the dam (where we’d camped once before years ago). Unfortunately, thanks to a massive oil boom in the area, all camping must now be approved by the Red Bluff Water District (432) 445-2037), which was closed when we arrived.
The unpaved county roads around Red Bluff Lake were full of old abandoned oil camps, which were interesting, but thick with big rigs and all sorts of other oilfield traffic. We’ll probably give this area east of Carlsbad a hard pass next time!
From here, we continued on to Monahans Sandhills State Park, located just off of IH-20. Although this is very beautiful spot, at night it was almost as noisy as our evening at the Chosa BLM campground. We really missed the solitude and peace we found on the backside of the Guadalupe Mountains, and plan on returning that way just as soon as we can!
See Overlanding in the Guadalupe Montains Post 1 and Post 2 for more on this trip.
Sources: https://mexicanwolves.org/New-in-the-Press-Carlsbad-Mexican-gray-wolf-to-mate-with-Mexican-female-in-breeding-program/
