The 3 Best Things to Do in Guadalupe Mountains National Park
If you’re wondering how to best take advantage of your time in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, there are 3 things you just can’t miss.
Odds are you’re passing through the area and don’t have much time. If that’s the case, you’ll get a good feel for the national park if you do any of these 3 things. You can do all three in 1 busy day or 2 chill (but still tiring) days.
I visited Guadalupe Mountains National Park as part of my 1.5-year road trip across the USA. I paired it with Carlsbad Caverns National Park and it made for a spectacular day in these two American national parks in Texas and New Mexico.
So, here are the 3 best things to do in Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Free Car Camping Near the Guadalupe Mountains
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s talk about where you can stay near Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
Lala and I car camped for free both times we visited the area.
My favorite spots were the Pine Springs Safety Rest Area and Sunset Reef Campground.
But there are more places to car camp for free!
If you’re planning any sort of trip in the Southwest, I actually made a free map with 70+ free car camping spots I found and vetted during my 2 years on the road. It’s my go-to resource whenever I’m planning where to sleep for the night.
👉 Grab the map for free below – I’ll email it to you right away!
1. Hike up to Guadalupe Peak
Guadalupe Peak is the highest point in Texas, sitting at 8,751 feet above sea level. It’s known as the “Top of Texas.”
The hike to Guadalupe Peak was amazing because the view of everything below you spans for SO many miles. Plus, it’s a difficult but very doable hike and, at the end, you can say you’ve been to the highest mountain in all of Texas.
This hike begins at the Pine Springs Visitor Center, which is Guadalupe National Park’s main Visitor Center. There are 2 more hikes that start there too: the Devil’s Hall Trail (4.2 miles) and El Capitan Trail (9.1 miles).
The Devil’s Hall Trail is a great alternative to Guadalupe Peak. It’s not nearly as difficult and is gorgeous in an entirely different way.
The Guadalupe Peak Trail is only 8.4 miles long, but you gain 3,000 feet of elevation during the hike. My health app said that’s about equal to climbing up 235 flights of stairs, which is the Empire State Building… 3 TIMES. So, yes, it’s a strenuous hike!
Ahh, but the view at the top is SO worth it!
Tips to Hike Guadalupe Peak
Start early, at 6:30 a.m., to beat the heat and the crowds.
After doing the hike, it felt like it had 3 parts.
- The first part starts off tough. It takes you through way too many switchbacks (which is definitely the theme of this hike). It ends when you finally crest the first false summit and go behind the mountain. If you started early, you’ll get shade for most of the second part of the hike.
- The second part is more switchbacks, but they aren’t as steep and aggressive. It’s also more green, so I enjoyed this part more. It ends at another false summit, and the landscape suddenly gets rocky.
- The third part of the Guadalupe Peak hike isn’t as long, but it’s hard. Especially since you’ve been hiking straight up for a couple of hours. Despite this, you’re still missing yet ANOTHER false summit before the final stretch to the very top through some gnarly… you got it, switchbacks!
From Guadalupe Peak, you can see the plains for miles and miles. There are funky hills in the distance, the salt flats towards Dell City and the mountain range behind you. You can appreciate how rivers have cut into the earth and made art of such a huge dimension that you can only enjoy it from a super tall mountain.
But the best view was El Capitan from above, the most beautiful single feature in the Guadalupe Mountains. It’s a gorgeous formation that looks like a rose from above.
However, if you aren’t hiking to Guadalupe Peak, you can see it from below too by hiking or driving. It’s even more imposing because of the sheer thousand-foot cliffs straight to the top. I’ll describe it in more detail below!
In my opinion, hiking to Guadalupe Peak is the single best thing to do in Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
2. McKittrick Canyon
The same way Guadalupe Peak is known as the Top of Texas, McKittrick Canyon is called the “Most Beautiful Spot in Texas.” The canyon was cut from the mountain range by the river, which makes it a place that’s just very alive.
And that’s something you don’t see much of in the area. Around the Guadalupe Mountains, there’s not much other than plains, deserts and badlands.
So, getting to these mountains and seeing vivid shades of green, wildlife in abundance and even red and yellow leaves in the fall is surprisingly beautiful.
What to do in McKittrick Canyon
The second of Guadalupe Mountains National Park’s Visitor Centers is in McKittrick Canyon. It isn’t staffed and isn’t much of a Visitor Center, but it has some information about the area, bathrooms and an old film you can watch.
And there’s not much to do other than hike! So here are the best hikes you can do out of McKittrick Canyon:
- Permian Reef: make it an 8-mile hike to the top of ridge and back, 9 miles to the Wilderness Ridge Campground and back or 9.2 miles to do the full hike to the park boundary and back. This hike takes you across the northern side of the canyon to see geological features of the Permian age and my favorite… fossils!
- Pratt Cabin or the Grotto: this 4.8-mile roundtrip hike takes you to Pratt Cabin in the middle of the canyon, following the stream. You can extend the hike to The Grotto, then Hunter Cabin, then the Notch and finally McKittrick Ridge depending on how hard you want to hike.
This place used to be an oasis in the middle of nowhere for people hundreds of years ago. To find a place like this was special then, just as it is now!
If you climb up Guadalupe Peak and visit McKittrick Canyon, you’ve done the best things to do in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. You’ve seen pretty much everything there is to see. But the last one is an amazing cherry on top!
3. El Capitan
El Capitan piqued my curiosity from the very beginning.
It’s the first feature of the Guadalupe Mountains you see on the drive there from El Paso and it’s an utter beauty!
The entire Guadalupe Mountains are an ancient coral reef called Capitan Reef that was pushed out of the ground by the forces of nature. Yes, this mountain range used to be a coral reef in an ocean… a GIANT coral reef! And El Capitan is the more visible outcropping of that coral reef, with its limestone walls rising more than 1,000 feet above the surface.
So not only is it beautiful, it’s also a geological wonder!
How to See El Capitan in Guadalupe Mountains National Park
The best view of El Capitan is from the top of the Guadalupe Mountains – Guadalupe Peak. The winding road under it and trucks cruising along look absolutely miniature. The perspective is breathtaking!
There’s also a trail that goes around El Capitan starting from the Pine Springs Visitor Center.
Compared to the Guadalupe Peak trail, it’s longer (9 miles) but doesn’t gain as much elevation (1,600 feet compared to 3,000 for Guadalupe Peak). You get to see it from close up and below, and it is impressive to say the least!
Apart from those two hikes, you can also experience El Capitan from stops on the road.
The best is on El Capitan Lookout right off of Highway 62/180 South. The road has pull-outs on both sides, but the view is best heading south, towards El Paso. You get an unobstructed view of El Capitan, while the view from Highway 62/180 North has the road in the way.
Final Thoughts
By getting to know these 3 things to do in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, you’ll honestly know the park better than most!
Though Guadalupe Mountains National Park and the Carlsbad Caverns are in the middle of nowhere and kind of small and underappreciated, I recommend visiting them! Believe me, they’re both worth seeing… you’ll be amazed.
Where to Next?
From Guadalupe Mountains National Park, you can visit a bunch of places:
- You just have to visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park, since it’s just 45 minutes from Guadalupe Mountains National Park. You can even explore both national parks in one epic day.
- White Sands to Carlsbad Caverns: Make a road trip out of it and visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park, White Sands National Park, and the Franklin Mountains and Hueco Tanks State Parks in El Paso.
- Road trip from Texas to California: Keep heading west towards Tucson and Saguaro National Park and then head keep heading to the west coast!
Frequently Asked Questions
The best part of Guadalupe Mountains National Park is either the top of Guadalupe peak, where you can see everything around you for MILES, or the 1,000-foot cliffs of El Capitan from below.
Hike. There really isn’t much else to do! The best hikes are Guadalupe Peak, Devil’s Hall, Permian Reef, Pratt Cabin and El Capitan.
Absolutely! It’s a gorgeous place, a super underrated national park, and you can pair it with Carlsbad Caverns National Park, which is just 45 minutes away.
You only need 2 days MAX at Guadalupe Mountains National Park so that you can hike a good bit and have time to visit the Carlsbad Caverns.
But, really, you could explore the Guadalupe Mountains in one day and be good to go!
Visit the Guadalupe Mountains in the spring or fall. The weather is crisp in the mornings, but can still get hot towards midday. I visited in late February and it was already getting really hot at the end of my hike up to Guadalupe Peak.
You can definitely visit in the summer, but it’ll be a bit limiting because it can get so hot that it’s dangerous.
The closest town is Dell City, but it’s TINY. It has one motel. The next closest is Carlsbad, about 55 minutes away, which has lots of hotel and restaurant options.
If you have any questions about visiting the Guadalupe Mountains, let me know in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer!
