The Texas Mandrone, Some Desert Critters and a Strange Storm

All over the Guadalupe Mountains National Park area in Texas, we found this gorgeous little tree, the Texas Madrone. This tree is a native of Texas, and has the most gorgeous red bark I've ever seen. This particular tree was near the wash area of our campsite, and I spent a lot of time one evening photographing it lit up with light from the setting sun.



It's deep red and orange-brown bark peels off in thin sheets, exposing the light green surface underneath. The contrast of red and green was so beautiful!



I was standing under the tree with my camera, trying my best to hold still to take slow speed shots, when I saw a tiny movement on the branch near my face. It turned out to be this showy little catterpillar. It looked so pretty, its bright green colors blending well with the reds and greens around it.



Later on, on one of the trails we spotted this pair. They were pretty tiny, and so cute and colorful! I have no idea what kind of insects they are. Just haven't had the time to read up on it. Any clues?


On our drive back from this trip to the Guadalupe Mountains, we experienced the wide open Texas skies. It was very hot, but it was also beautiful in a stark and rugged way.


We also had the oddest experience with this tiny little storm. I have never seen anything like it before, though it probably is common in this part of the world. Though it was generally bright and sunny, there was this one cloud to the left of the highway that was darker than the rest. And there were sheets of rain coming down from it on to the ground directly below. It was moving towards the highway, and kicking up a lot of dust too. We could feel the force of the wind, and drove faster to get out of its way.



This wasn't the only one - we saw more small rain clouds like this a couple more times on this 9 hour drive back to East Texas.


As it got dark, I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw this - the sun setting in the West, on the Guadalupe Mountains, as we sped away from it back home to the East.



Have a great week.

Desert Sunrise & the Roof of Texas

It turns out Guadalupe Mountains National Park in West Texas is in the Mountain Time Zone. Just two hours east of there, we get back to Central Time. We didn't know this on our first night there, and set our little watch alarm for 6:30am, hoping to hit the trail early.

When the alarm went off (5:30am locally), it was still pitch dark. So we lay partially awake in the tent and waited. It was very pleasant after the rains of the previous night, and so I wasn't in any hurry to get up.

Soon however, it started getting light and I opened the tent flap and peeped out to see this -



I quickly pulled out my camera and scrambled out of the tent. No one else was up in the campsite, and I watched the fiery red sunrise as light slowly spread through the sky.



After taking these pictures, I quickly went in to wash up. In the short time I was in there, the strong desert sun had come out and all the red was gone from the sky. We could feel the heat rapidly taking over. So after a hurried breakfast, we started on an 8.5 mile RT hike to the roof of Texas - Guadalupe Peak.

There was literally no shade on the trail. It was dry and hot, but at 8:30am there still was a soft breeze that made the walk pleasant.



The trail led steadily uphill via switchbacks, and we quickly got higher up in elevation.



The view got better and better with each turn.



Little lizards darted under rocks as we approached, and desert insects kept up a steady chirping as the sun climbed higher into the sky. Bright red flowers peeped out cheerfully at intervals from the rocky landscape, relieving the monotony.



It took us about two hours to get to the top. Guadalupe Peak, at 8751 feet, is the highest point in Texas. The view from the top was lovely, and it was quiet and serene. We were the first people up there on this day, though we saw a dozen more people heading up as we made our way down.
We didn't stay long though, because it was too hot to sit out there under the sun.



The weekend is here again. Aren't the days just flying by?! Have a good one.

Guadalupe Mountains & the Bookmark Draw

Thanks for your comments and positive words on my previous (and 100th) post. I drew three random numbers today and matched them to the comments. The bookmarks will soon be in the mail to:

1. Blu
2. Celeste Maia
3. Raph G. Neckmann

Thanks for participating!

***
Every summer we try to do a little hiking trip to one of the great National Parks in the US. This year we tried and tried to make plans, but they kept falling through. Finally we decided to just take a few days and drive down to West Texas, to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.



Compared to many other national parks in the US, this one is pretty remote. The only accommodation within the park is in the form of a few campsites, which you cannot reserve in advance. The campgrounds have toilets and potable water, but there are no camp stores where you can buy food or batteries or anything you might have forgotten to bring. No showers, and nothing except the wide skies and open desert with sparsely marked hiking trails.

Rough, stark natural beauty everywhere, and as much solitude as you want.

What I found most fascinating was that this park is an ancient, marine fossilized reef! Apparently, this dry desert was under a vast tropical ocean about 250 million years ago. The tall mountains that jut out into the sky today were part of a reef that stretched over 400 miles of the shoreline! The ocean eventually receded, and slowly the reef emerged, and with erosion over many, many years, the peaks were formed.

Guadalupe Peak within the park is the highest point in Texas, and we hiked to its top one day.

We arrived in the park in the middle of a harsh thunder and lightning storm. We found an open campsite, but sat in our car wondering if the showers would stop at all. The clouds were dark and low, and the lightning was incessant.



After an hour or so, the rain stopped and we could see the clouds slowly moving on. We quickly got out and pitched our tent, so that if it did rain through the night, we'd have a place to stretch out!




So this was home for the next couple days, where we sat every night under the trees, watching the incredibly clear night sky, with billions of stars shimmering like shards of crystal. Guadalupe Mountains National Park is so very far away from any city that it has some of the clearest night skies possible.



Later that evening as we were getting settled in, the rain had almost completely stopped, though bulbous dark clouds still hung from the sky. What made us feel completely welcome though, was this pair of cheerful rainbows that were painted across the sky!



Have a great weekend.