The Kingdom of Guad

There will never be enough said about the Guadalupe Mountains. I have certainly never been so moved (other than in the depths of Carlsbad Caverns) by geology, topography, flora, fauna, and life. 

I only found one serpent while among the Guads; it attempted to rattle as 'spoke' quite forcefully. I was more forceful than it was, however, as I refused to back down when it insisted that basking on the road was a good idea. It's rarely a good idea to bask on a road...

Bull Snake / Gopher Snake / Pituophis catenifer, McKittrick Road, April 2014

In between my surveys among the Guads, my office was a little corner of heaven. Sort of. There was an outlet for the freezer and I could charge my phone and get cell reception while out of the sun and the wind. Ah, the life. Sitting on a chest freezer, Coke machine as a back rest... good times.

Office of the Guads.

Ah, but the southern end of the park, Williams Ranch Road, wow. Not as cushy as my office.

The road is probably smoother on horseback.

This was a Guad forsaken hill on earth. In fact, it was the site that gave me the inspiration... of 16 points, roughly half were inaccessible due to being on steep ridges or on slopes that were better explored by scorpions than shoes.

Somewhere down in that rippling green creosote is a little pixel of white, my vehicle, the Beagle.

Looking north, along the Guad forsaken hill on Earth.

Looking east, admiring the Guads.

Perfect terrain for ankle twisting. Gorgeous ocotillo, yucca, lechuguilla, cacti variety that makes your head spin. I adore ocotillo for its upside-down-octopus-squid-silhouette.

Best terrain of the survey.

It was simply glorious to behold the Guads in all their splendor. Weather makes it so: shy of dust and gale force winds, gentle breaths of life tracking the pulse of spring... interrupted, naturally, by days of dust and gale force winds. Ah, but 'tis the will of the Guads.

Ocotillo, Guadalupe Mountains.

* Not backdated, at least not enough to reflect April 26 - May 5 or so.
** Pardon the preaching, but Guad so loved the world that... oh, who am I kidding.