We left New Mexico, drove a desolate stretch of highway in Texas, just to return to New Mexico. The desolate stretch was Highway 180. No cell reception, which for some reason made me nervous. I didn’t used to get that way when I was younger.  Once we realized there was a call box every 5 miles I relaxed, somewhat.

Washington Ranch is a little different. It’s not really an RV Park. It’s a huge property with a storied past. Currently it’s owned by CARC Inc., a Carlsbad, NM company that helps children and adults living with developmental disabilities live active and productive lives. There’s a few cottages on the property where some of them live.

They also fancy themselves as an event & wedding destination. It’s conveniently located between Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Here are the only three spots! When we first pulled in, Amelia was a bit leery. I told her she was spoiled, that didn’t go over well.

Amelia had a change of heart when she started seeing all the wildlife. We saw deer, a great horned owl, that we were able to get close to, a flock of Rio Grande turkeys, all toms with big beards, but the most exciting sighting was a new bird for us, a Vermillion Flycatcher.

The best new beer, so far this trip.

Our first full day, we escaped bad weather and did a long drive to Salt Basin Dunes, which is part of Guadalupe Mountains National Park. It was a mile walk to get to the dunes.

The clouds started to clear over the Guadalupe Mountains as we walked on the dunes.

Christmas Cholla

There were a lot of these flood gauges on the way to the dunes. They didn’t appear to be in a wash so it was hard to imagine a foot of water, let alone five feet of water.

We don’t consider ourselves peak baggers, but we have hiked the highest peak in the continental U.S., Mt. Whitney at 14,505 feet, and the highest peak in Colorado, Mt. Elbert at 14,439 feet.  Now we can add Guadalupe Peak, the highest peak in Texas at 8,751 feet.

It was one steep ass hike! Round trip 8.4 miles, nearly 3,000 feet elevation gain.

It never cleared for us, which might have been a good thing because there were numerous shear drop offs…

…but we were denied the incredible views at the summit. They did have this nice marker though.

Amelia scrambling down from the peak.

She couldn’t hold it! Just kidding! The nozzle on her Camelbak popped off and soaked her. It was cold!

We saw some beautiful Mountain Laurel driving into the Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

The Carlsbad Caverns are the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. I tried to take photos, but the iPhone doesn’t work well underground in low lighting. The caverns were huge and if we had done our research we could have done a small tour with a ranger into parts the general public can’t access.

The one photo that kind of turned out.

But really the most amazing thing was the natural entrance. You go 1.25 miles at a 20% grade to more than 750 feet below the surface! It was truly surreal.

Adios Camp Washington Ranch.