Deatination: Devil's Hall Trail GMNP
Date: March, 2013
Distance: 3.8 miles round trip
More information: Guadalupe Mountains National Park Website
Over Easter every year my wife and I spend the weekend taking the youth group to a large conference in dallas (not exactly relaxing). So a couple of years ago when we got home we decided to take our day off and enjoy some time hiking as a family.
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| 35 Pound wiggling pack |
We drove the three and a half hours over to the park and arrived in the early afternoon. The biggest attraction in the park is guadalupe peak (the tallest point in texas). With 3000 feet of elevation gain in 4 miles and a 30 pound wiggling pack on my back, we opted for the less dramatic devils hall.
The trailhead begins in the parking lot just past pine springs visitor center. There is a bathroom and water spigot to fill up water bottles. Be sure to carry plenty of water as the entire hike is in desert like conditions. The park system reccomends one gallon per person per day.
We started up the trail with mama hauling the 9 month old on the front in the ergo and I had the three year old in the kelty kid carrier on my back. Less than five minutes in both kids were knocked out (that's the way to hike, take an hour nap and get to enjoy the end result)!
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| Devil's Staircase |
The last half of the hike follows the dried creek bed with some scrambling over rocks and a natural staircase before arriving at the natural hallway cut out of the rocks. Some places on the trail took some caution with the unevenly distributed weight and some narrow passages with toddler clobberers hanging in the pathway.
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| Jackson Checking out the Rocks |
Once we reached the hallway we dropped the packs (not literally we gently placed them down) and let the kiddos run around. Rylee and I walked to the official end of the trail, conveniently marked with a sign reading "end of trail". Then we sat and ate a few snacks and drank some Gatorade and the baby found some tasty rocks to crunch on.
After 45 minutes we strapped on the kids and headed back down. On our way back through the staircase the uneven pack and footing got the best of me and landed me on my "bottom"! After mama got done laughing we dusted off and carried on.
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| The Family eating a snack |
On the way back we were busy talking and enjoying time as a family and the one leading (me) made a wrong turn and got us back down in the creek bottom. Knowing that it would turn out near the car, we decided to follow it until it got too overgrown forcing us to backtrack.
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| Mama and Jackson checking out a Cave |
Devil's hall is one of the most popular trails in the park due to its significantly less elevation gain to other areas. On the way we saw several other hikers making the trek. Every time we passed someone they would make a comment about how amazingly strong and strapping (no exaggeration at all) I was to be hauling the 35 pounder. I always took the compliments and strutted down the path, and never mentioned my two blunders (surprisingly mama didn't either)!
When we made it back to the car we finished off the granola bars and hit the potty. On the ride home we got to listen to Rylee tell us how much fun she had until we heard her snoring. It was a wonderful relaxing day in the outdoors with the people I love most. These are the moments in life I will cherish forever.
