We drove straight from South Llano River to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We crossed what seemed like a million miles of nothing. Texas is so long it feels like it goes on forever. While driving we passed the land of green energy. Everywhere we looked we saw those big wind turbines. It is quite the sight to see. Then we were on a road that had multiple flood gauges and watch for water on roads and other flood warning signs. But, there were not any sort of evacuation routes, turnoffs or instructions. Texas just wants you to know you may be in danger and there is no way out?!? We went through a lightning storm. I would call it a thunder storm but there was no thunder. The lightning was striking all around
us from low lying gray clouds. The land is so flat that it seemed like we were in the midst of this storm for so long, actually it was only about an hour. Lightning kept hitting over this one mountain, when we passed by we noticed there were more wind turbines behind this mountain and that must have been the reason lightning kept striking in that localized area. This fascinated Brad and all he wanted to do was watch for more lightning to see a wind turbine get hit. The campsites here were pretty nice and removed from one another. They would have been a lot better if they had showers. But I guess you can’t always have it all. A ranger told us that this was one of the last place
s with absolute black night. There is nothing near Guadalupe Mountains National Park and no real lights in the park (there are no roads except to enter the park either!). The stars were really bright and we could see the Milky way as well as a moving Satalite, which is what Brad 
wanted to see. I must admit it was really neat to watch a satalite move across the night sky. The night was so clear and dark that each star in the big dipper looked as bright as the north star and there were blankets of stars further away that normally we would not be able to see due to light pollution. We stayed here two nights. Once we woke up we decided to hike to the top of the highest point in Texas, Guadalupe peak. We went to the visitor center first and there was a rattlesnake on the walkway to the visitor center, so imagine how many there were under rocks or in bushes. There are five different types of rattlesnakes in this park and a king snake who can eat rattlesnakes – eish! We then embarked on what will be known as the grueling hike up the lamenting mountain. After the crazy hike Brad looked up at the mountain and noticed a face in the rock. Similar to that of Grandfather except rather than looking peaceful the face looked tortured. This was perfect with how we felt about this mountain at the time, powerful and
suffering under intense conditons. This rock face looked as though it was screaming in pain, thus we named him the lamenting man on the mountain. Grandfather is so peaceful because he gets to live on the blue ridge mountains. The blue ridge has shade and running springs and moss under your feet. Not so with the Guadalupe's rocky terrain. This view was nowhere in any of the brochures or websites. I am sure others have noticed it but it is not published (atleast where we have seen). We pointed this out to our neighbors who asked if it was a famous view because they thought the face was so obvious but they also had never heard of it. So, if you are ever there look for the tortured brother of Grandfather Mountain.
us from low lying gray clouds. The land is so flat that it seemed like we were in the midst of this storm for so long, actually it was only about an hour. Lightning kept hitting over this one mountain, when we passed by we noticed there were more wind turbines behind this mountain and that must have been the reason lightning kept striking in that localized area. This fascinated Brad and all he wanted to do was watch for more lightning to see a wind turbine get hit. The campsites here were pretty nice and removed from one another. They would have been a lot better if they had showers. But I guess you can’t always have it all. A ranger told us that this was one of the last place
s with absolute black night. There is nothing near Guadalupe Mountains National Park and no real lights in the park (there are no roads except to enter the park either!). The stars were really bright and we could see the Milky way as well as a moving Satalite, which is what Brad 
wanted to see. I must admit it was really neat to watch a satalite move across the night sky. The night was so clear and dark that each star in the big dipper looked as bright as the north star and there were blankets of stars further away that normally we would not be able to see due to light pollution. We stayed here two nights. Once we woke up we decided to hike to the top of the highest point in Texas, Guadalupe peak. We went to the visitor center first and there was a rattlesnake on the walkway to the visitor center, so imagine how many there were under rocks or in bushes. There are five different types of rattlesnakes in this park and a king snake who can eat rattlesnakes – eish! We then embarked on what will be known as the grueling hike up the lamenting mountain. After the crazy hike Brad looked up at the mountain and noticed a face in the rock. Similar to that of Grandfather except rather than looking peaceful the face looked tortured. This was perfect with how we felt about this mountain at the time, powerful and
suffering under intense conditons. This rock face looked as though it was screaming in pain, thus we named him the lamenting man on the mountain. Grandfather is so peaceful because he gets to live on the blue ridge mountains. The blue ridge has shade and running springs and moss under your feet. Not so with the Guadalupe's rocky terrain. This view was nowhere in any of the brochures or websites. I am sure others have noticed it but it is not published (atleast where we have seen). We pointed this out to our neighbors who asked if it was a famous view because they thought the face was so obvious but they also had never heard of it. So, if you are ever there look for the tortured brother of Grandfather Mountain. 
2 comments:
AMIGO
Sounds harsh!!
Awesome lightning strike picture!
Post a Comment