We drove south through El Paso and then east to visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park which is very close to the New Mexico border. It was a nice sunny day but was it ever windy! :)
We had time to do about one hike and chose the Smith Spring Trail. (2.3 mi) We also got to experience the Manzanita Spring Trail. We didn't see a lot of wildlife except lizards and a sleeping (I hope) snake and birds. It was a really lovely hike.
According to the park pamphlet the Guadalupe Mountains are among the best examples of a marine fossil reef. It is said to have formed 260-270 million years ago! During that time there was a tropical ocean that covered this area and along with time secreting organisms from the seawater they built this Capitan Reef. The sea and reef were eventually no more and evaporated and left all the minerals and sediment and then was exposed during a mountain uplift.
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