Tucson Road Trip

This summer is shaping up to be a busy one with “revenge travel” on the agenda after 2020! We decided that we’d see as much family as we could after being restricted for the past year. In May, I made a trip back to Illinois to visit my family. June’s trip was to Tucson to visit Tanya’s mom. I thought I’d drive and knock off a few more National Parks of my to-do list on a round-about way of getting to Tucson.

The trip plan

My nature is to be a detailed planner. I suspect it comes from running IT and consulting projects for most of my life. It’s tough to get out of that mode so, of course, I had to plan out the trip in detail. I use a software package called Road Trip Planner on my Mac. For detail-oriented geeks like myself, it’s great! It also helps me share my plan with Tanya so she has some idea on where I’m going and what I’ll be up to. Maybe one of these days I’ll loosen up and become more spontaneous. It’s a process.

My trip included passing through Albuquerque with a quick stop to visit my friend Dean. From there, I was on to the Organ Mountains for camping before heading to White Sands. Next was to hit Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains. I used a free camping site to find some places to camp on BLM ground near Carlsbad Caverns. This camp spot would provide a staging to both Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns. The final step was to head over to Tucson and meet up with Tanya and Hannah for family time.

Heading out

My trip started on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. I figured Sunday was a good travel day since traffic shouldn’t be as bad as Monday. My main concern was whether there would be camping available my first night. It turns out I had nothing to worry about.

I-25 south of Denver can be a somewhat monotonous drive. Personally I always enjoy going through the area south of Trinidad when heading into Raton Pass. There are some pretty canyons and I enjoy the scenic area. I’ve often wondered why I haven’t backpacked in that area…just another area to go sometime in the future.

Weather was cloudy and cool most of the way making for a mostly uneventful drive. Just past Santa Fe, things warmed up as I descended into the valley headed to Albuquerque. Then, south of Albuquerque, it rained so hard it seemed like the rain drops had a vendetta against the ground and were trying to tear it apart! I wasn’t able to capture the video of the storm since I was kinda busy keeping the Jeep on the road. Here is a picture of the clouds a little further south after the storm.

First Night – Organ Mountains

The rest of the drive to the Organ Mountains was quiet. My plan was to look for spots on BLM land to camp for free. The road into the Organ Mountains didn’t have any pullouts so I ended up at the campground. There were several spots open although it was busy. Unfortunately I picked a spot next to a large group who decided to stay up talking into the wee hours of the morning. It wasn’t too bad though.

As sunset approached, I scrambled up on rock outcroppings to get a few good pictures. As usual, the sunset didn’t disappoint.

White Sands National Park

Despite the loud neighbors, I had a decent night’s sleep. With everything packed up, I headed out to White Sands. There was a nice shot of the moon over the mountains as I left the campground. I also spotted a javelina but it was too fast for me to get a picture.

The short drive took me from the cooler mountains to the hot sands. The park is somewhat similar to The Great Sand Dunes, although the dunes aren’t as “great” meaning not as high, but the white sands are amazing. The park doesn’t have a lot of trails. I decided to do the two longer ones available. Most people seemed to drive to pullouts and try sledding on the sand which looked like fun.

Akalai Flat Trail

This trail is a simple loop that’s about 5 miles. Hiking up and down the dunes adds a little fun to the hike. Collecting sand in my shoes, not so much. I’d stop every few miles to get the sand out of my hiking boots and socks. It wasn’t the end of the world. 🙂 The landscape is pretty barren although there are lizards here and there that are running around. They’re very fast! It was a very enjoyable hike.

Backcountry Trail

The second hike I did at White Sands was the Backcountry Trail. This trail has 10 backcountry camping spots. All the backcountry camping was closed while I was there. If you go when camping is open, I strongly recommend staying in the desert. I would have loved to have done it. The area is designated a top night viewing location due to the lack of light pollution. Plus, you can get to any of the spots with a short hike of a mile or less. Spot #4 looked ideal. Yes, I know that’s not the site pictured below. I just like to make it confusing for those of you paying attention to the details.

Onto the next stop

My itinerary had me headed to a BLM spot near Calsbad Caverns. The drive east on 70, and then 82, was beautiful through the mountains. It cooled off and there were a few rain showers to enjoy. The mountains in this section of New Mexico are similar to the mountains of southern Colorado. Unfortunately, that mountain drive dumps out into a less attractive section of the state. Once you are through the mountains there isn’t much to see, in my opinion. It’s mainly open plains of scrub with the occasional oil derrick.

Things improved a little as I got closer to my camp spot. There were some nice mountains to the north. Most of the public lands, however, were still small scrub bushes and dirt. I picked a spot near a primitive campground off highway 462. This spot was about a half-mile off the main road, Highway 180. If you decide to use this area, I’d recommend continuing down Highway 462. There are apparently better spots further from 180 that are quieter. This spot did work well for me.

As the sun started to set, I could see a possible rainstorm coming in across the Guadalupe Mountains. Genius that I am, I decided that’d be a good time to adjust the setup of my tent and rotate it about 90 degrees to put the head of it more into the wind. I was about halfway done when the rain hit. Did I mention what a genius I am? I quickly stuffed everything into the Jeep since the fly wasn’t even on the tent. The Jeep provided a nice respite from the storm but it isn’t really a “sleeping” car since there is no place to lie down.

Luckily, the storm was short-lived and I was able to set the tent back up after the storm…in the dark. The dirt had absorbed most of the brief rain so there wasn’t much mud. I settled down and had a great night’s sleep.

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

I was up early the next day, about 5:45AM. First order of the day, lounge around in the tent! Then, after morning coffee and oatmeal, I headed out. The park was about a 30-minute drive from my campsite. Temps were relatively cool and most of the area had dense cloud cover making it great for hiking. I had decided to hike the Guadalupe Peak Trail which takes you to the highest point in Texas (you cross from New Mexico into Texas on the way to the park). I mean, if you’re going to hike in Texas, you kinda HAVE to do the highest peak, right?

Guadalupe Peak Trail

The trail is an 8 mile hike with 3000′ elevation change, so nothing too bad. The clouds had everything covered at the lower elevations. Once I got above them, however, there were some incredible views. I wasn’t expecting the forests that I came across as I got higher. It really is a beautiful trail.

There is a saddle just before the last incline to the peak. That saddle area is where the only backcountry campsite is on this trail. It was there I spotted Barbary Sheep. A ranger told me later that these sheep are non-native and have displaced the native bighorns from the area. They are impressive animals. It’s sad to know they were introduced and displaced the native species.

The views from the Peak were impressive. I met a couple headed up to the peak as I was leaving. They were from Highlands Ranch, Colorado! What are the chances that the only people you visit with on the trail are basically neighbors from home!!

Guadalupe Peak was a great hike and only took about 3:40 so I was back down before noon. I decided to splurge on the $15 to camp at the park. Campspot #6 looked perfect. The afternoon was ideal, relaxing in the shade of a tree reading Grizzly Years which Dean had loaned to me. The author, Doug Peacock, is a pretty hard-core backpacker…much more so than I’ll ever be!

There were some fires in the northern section of the park. I captured a helicopter ferrying fire suppressant up during the afternoon.

Just like the day before, the evening had storms rolling in from the north. The lightening with the clouds throughout the sky made for good video. I also captured the rain hitting the tent. It was a nice lullaby. I’d decided not to tear down the tent just before the rain this time.

Carlsbad Caverns

My itinerary had me heading for Tucson later in the day. I was hoping to make a relatively quick trip to Carlsbad Caverns and then get in another hike at Guadalupe. Luckily, things worked out!

The drive from Guadalupe Mountains campground to Carlsbad was about 30 minutes or so. It was backtracking the way I’d come before since I couldn’t get into Carlsbad until 6/2. Carlsbad Caverns requires a reservation to get into the caverns because they limit how many people can be in there at a time. I believe this started with COVID. The reservation is only $1. My reservation was for between 8:30AM and 9:30AM.

Carlsbad Caverns was quite a switch from the Guadalupe Mountains. Carlsbad was much more “touristy” and less rugged. Lots of families were touring the caverns. Certainly the caverns are an amazing natural wonder. With that said, they reminded me to thank my friend Dan for all the times he took me caving when I was in college. We would do things like sit quietly in a small space admiring the soda straws in a pocket of rock, turn out our lights and let the bats breeze by touching our cheeks as they fly in the cave, discover underground rivers to follow and swim through sumps (with rope, of course), or jump into a water well to dog-paddle fully clothed to the next cavern.

This isn’t quite the experience of Carlsbad Caverns. Still, it truly is an amazing natural wonder especially in the sheer size of the caverns. I did avoid the elevators and walked the trail. Somehow taking the elevators into the caverns just seemed wrong to me.

Back to Guadalupe Mountains and Devil’s Hall

The hike through Carlsbad Caverns didn’t take long and Guadalupe Mountains was on my way to Tucson…so why not get one more hike in? I’d heard from the Highlands Ranch couple that Devil’s Hall was a nice hike. They were right, it was perfect. It was only 4 miles and was a great finale to the day before heading on the drive west.

There is a picnic pullout about 4 miles west of the Guadalupe Mountain Pine Springs entrance. From there, you get a good look back at Guadalupe Peak. It was worth the stop to get the shot.

Overall, this trip provided a great way to get to Tucson. I was able to knock 3 more National Parks off my list and get in plenty of hiking time. Once in Tucson, I had a blast with Tanya, Hannah and Anne, plus included a stop to see my friend Doug. During some downtime, I did capture a few shots in the desert. Hope you enjoy them!

Akalai Flat Trail GPX

Backcountry Trail GPX

Guadalupe Peak Trail GPX

Devil’s Hall Trail GPX