This is the fifth post in our series about New Mexico parks, our third about day trips from Brantley Lake State Park. We visit the main entrance section of Guadalupe Mountains National Park today. We actually combined this with our trip to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Stay tuned and I’ll tell you whether or not that was a good idea.
Important: The Park is in Mountain Time Zone, but it is on the border of Central. So with the towers, your phone may toggle back and forth between the time zones. So set your phone manually to show Mountain time.
Early Morning Visit
We visited this park in late September when it could still be warm in the afternoon. So we got up early and drove the hour and a half to the park. Notice you drive right by Carlsbad Caverns. We chose to do the hiking at Guadalupe early when it was cool, and then saved the caves for the afternoon since the caves are cooler anyway.
Smith Spring/Frijole Ranch Area
We turned off at the Frijole Ranch and Smith Spring area, right before the Pine Springs Visitor Center. Warning, no vehicles over 21 feet are permitted in this parking area, so if you have your RV, you will need to drop it at the Visitor Center. You are supposed to go ahead and pay and fill entrance permit. However, we needed to buy our yearly pass, so we did not do that since we knew we would be going to the Visitor Center immediately following the hike. Also, we got there at 6:30 am and the visitor center didn’t open until 8am.
Our Favorite Hike
The 2.3 Smith Spring loop trail was our favorite hike for the entire trip. I would definitely suggest taking this hike as early as you can, especially in the summer. To keep this post from becoming too long, I moved all of the in-depth trail descriptions into another post: 5 Hikes for Every Energy Level in Guadalupe National Park that I will post next week. Here are a few images to whet your appetite.
Frijole Ranch
By the time we returned back to where the hike started, the ranch complex was open. They have a variety of buildings with historical displays to tell you about the area.
Pine Springs Visitor Center
We returned to our car and drove the short distance to the Pine Springs Visitor Center, the main visitor center for the park. As with most visitor centers, the best part is the knowledgeable rangers, who can answer any questions you may have. You can tour the very small museum inside as well. You may also take the Pinery hike, which I talk about in the 5 Hikes post.
Campgrounds
You have two options to camp at the park: Pine Springs campground and the one I will talk about in a few weeks, Dog Canyon campground. At the base of Guadalupe Peak, Pine Springs Campground has 20 walk-in tent sites with picnic tables. They also have a parking lot that provides 13 RV spots. The campground has no hookups nor a dump station. Water is available for canteens/water bottles, but the campground doesn’t have a place to hook up your RV with a water hose. So, bring the water you need for your RV with you.
Final Thoughts
We thoroughly enjoyed our half a day here and plan to return. Should we have made it a full day, maybe. I will say that after hiking the Springs Trail in the morning here and the Natural Entrance Trail at Carlsbad Caverns in the afternoon, I was pretty tired. If you have smaller children or need to conserve your own energy, I would suggest visiting them on separate days. However, we thoroughly enjoyed doing both parks in one day.
Yes, this park is remote, but we are so glad we took the time to visit. Consider adding it to you itinerary if you are in the area. This park has plenty for you to explore for a day or more. After my 5 hikes post next week, I will post about the other main area of the park: Dog Canyon.