Guadalupe Mountains National Park: McKittrick Canyon Trail (to Pratt Cabin and the Grotto)

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Guadalupe Mountains National Park, which is located in west Texas, east of El Paso and just south of the New Mexico state line (near Carlsbad), was authorized by an Act of Congress in 1966 to preserve “an area possessing outstanding geological values together with scenic and other natural values of great significance.” The park was formally established in 1972 with an area of 76,293 acres. Today, Guadalupe Mountains National Park includes 86,416 acres. The Guadalupe Mountains rise more than 3,000 feet above the arid Chihuahuan Desert that surrounds them. El Capitan, the park’s most striking feature, is a 1,000-foot-high limestone cliff. Nearby Guadalupe Peak rises to 8,751 feet above sea level and is the highest point in Texas.

Unlike many of the other national parks, there is no scenic drive to the summit or around the park, just wild places to explore on foot and horseback. So I did just that, hiking the McKittrick Canyon Trail. The trail is an out-and-back trail, and I hiked to Pratt Cabin, and then went on to the Grotto (6.8 miles roundtrip). The total hike was a little more than seven and a quarter miles which took me about two and half hours.

At Pratt Cabin, I met a nice couple from Oregon who were camping in the park and were headed to Big Bend, just like I am. We got to talking (I always try to ask people where they're from because they're usually not from the area that we're in and it starts the conversation), I mentioned I was from Philadelphia, and he asked if I knew of Hatboro. I told him I did, that I had grown up in Warrington.  I forgot to mention Santerian's Department Store, a staple of Hatboro that we always went to as kids. He said he went to William Tennent High School and lived in Lacey Park (now Warminster Heights), near the Johnsville Naval Air Station (his dad was in the Navy). He reminisced about hoagies, cheesesteaks and soft pretzels! It's a small world indeed!

At the Pratt Cabin
View on the hike to the Pratt Cabin
The Grotto
Hunter's Cabin near the Grotto
El Capitan, as seen from Highway 62/180




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