Tag Archives: hiking

To-Do hikes

Marcus/Bush Mtn Trail

Update: I finally did the Marcus trail in April 2025 but got snowed out of my following Blue Ridge/Bush Mountain backpack.

I really want to finish up all the hiking trails in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I’ve never been up the Permian Geology trail to the Wilderness Ridge BC site. I’ve never been up/down the Marcus trail, nor the northwest corner of the Bush Mountain trail.

I want to do the loop of Marcus trail/Blue Ridge/Bush mountain to finish up that corner of the park. It’s the least used bit of trail in the park I believe. I actually did do the Blue Ridge section back in the 1980s; even have a backcountry permit for Blue Ridge backcountry site but I didn’t use it. I just hiked out from I think Mescalero to Blue Ridge to Bush Mountain and back to Pine Top.

I will start in Dog Canyon, thence to Marcus, and the only question is whether to do the loop clockwise or counter-clockwise.

  • 3.5 mi. –Dog Canyon CG to Marcus Trail jct
  • 0.2 mi. –Marcus Jct to Marcus BC site
  • 3.7 mi. –Marcus BC to Blue Ridge Jct
  • 0.5 mi. –Blue Ridge Jct to Blue Ridge BC site
  • 1.2 mi. –Blue Ridge BC to Marcus Jct
  • 3.8 mi. –Marcus Jct to Marcus Jct
  • 3.5 mi. –Marcus Jct to Dog Canyon CG
  • 16.4 miles total loop

TR-Guadalupe Mountains Dog Canyon & Gypsum Dunes November 14-16, 2019

Wednesday the 13th I left Austin after work and some final packing around 6:00 P.M. and got to Ozona around 10:00. Next morning I kind of let Google navigate me, wanting to stay well away from US 285; ended up going East and North of it, to near Odessa, then coming into the Guadalupe Mountains/Lincoln National Forest via Carlsbad. Only in one small section, around Eunice, did I experience much oil field traffic.

Arrived Dog Canyon 1:00 P.M. MST on Thursday. I was a little discombobulated since I have never arrived there so early in the day: Because of the distance, I generally arrive shortly before sundown but since I’d left from Ozona I had a significantly shorter drive.

Map of West Texas and southern New Mexico with route driven highlighted in green.
Austin-Ozona-Carlsbad-GUMO Dog Canyon-GUMO Gypsum Dunes-Ozona-Austin
Continue reading TR-Guadalupe Mountains Dog Canyon & Gypsum Dunes November 14-16, 2019

TR-Wheeler Peak-New Mexico Highpoint 8/31/97

[Original date August 31, 1997]

Trip report from a hike to the summit of Wheeler Peak, the highest point in New Mexico (13,161′) undertaken August 31, 1997.

Wheeler Peak is the highest point in New Mexico at 13,161′. The hike to the summit via Bull of the Woods is about 15 miles round trip, and has an elevation gain from 9,000 to 13,161′. This climb is non-technical during most of the summer. But extreme care should be taken during the thunderstorm season-July and August-since much of the Wheeler Peak trail is above timberline and exposed. Getting to and off the summit before thunderstorms this time of year will entail a near-dawn departure.

Continue reading TR-Wheeler Peak-New Mexico Highpoint 8/31/97