Editor's Note: This news item was retrieved and first published through Houstonia's website.
BY NATIONAL PARK STANDARDS, THE GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS ARE RATHER UNPOPULAR. Ask the average Texan if they’ve been to Big Bend National Park and, even if they haven’t, they’ve surely heard the name. In terms of common knowledge and visitor traffic, the “top of Texas” ranks far below more quintessential sites like Palo Duro Canyon, Enchanted Rock, and, of course, Big Bend. It seemed odd to me that, in a state starved for elevation, the tallest peak in the land, a whopping (by Texan standards) 8,800 feet above the sea, would remain so woefully obscure. That is, until I hiked it myself.