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National Geographic : 1979 Jul
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Guadalupe's Trails in Summer By EDWARD ABBEY FROM GUADALUPE PEAK, 8,749 feet above sea level, highest point both in this national park and in what Tex ans refer to as the largest unfrozen state in the Union, we peer south through wind and haze toward Mexico and the Sier ra Madre ... the Mother Mountains. But they are obscured by dust and distance. We do, however, have a fine view of the Pecos Valley to the east, dry salt lakes to the west, the mountains of New Mexico to the north. And the harsh bright blue of the sky overhead. High lonesome country, this west Texas. Arid plains, glaring salt flats, rough and rugged desert mountains, bitter winds, snow in winter, heat and drought in sum mer, and a long, long way from anywhere. El Paso lies 110 miles to the west, Carlsbad, New Mexico, 55 miles to the northeast, Pe cos 80 miles to the southeast, and tiny Van Horn 55 miles to the south. There's nothing in between but creosote bushes, saltbushes, lizards, jackrabbits, vultures, and rattlesnakes-at least four species. Plus these anomalous mountains rising like islands from the vast Chihuahuan Desert. And a few tough Texans, a few more even tougher beef cattle. (Chop with cleav ers, chew with steel dentures; that's local slumgullion stew.) Such an environment breeds a cantanker ous variety of human. For instance: In a nearby town, I was told, the service-station owner once refused to sell gasoline to strang ers unless their cars wore Texas license plates. Why? Because foreigners just had no business nosing around. Another story: About four years ago a lo cal rancher, 79 years old, was riding alone in the rocky foothills when his horse stumbled, broke a leg, and fell on top of the old man, breaking one of his legs as well as a few ribs. Trapped beneath the thrashing horse, the old man unholstered his revolver and shot the animal. Then he drew his knife and cut his way free from the 1,200-pound carcass. He crawled three miles over rock, through brush and cactus, to the nearest road and waited there for two days without food or water until somebody finally came along in a pickup truck. The old rancher was furious because nobody had found him sooner. Such people do not adapt easily to tour ists; Guadalupe Mountains National Park, opened in 1971, is still regarded as an affront by a few of its neighbors, who would rather see cows on its hills than humans. Up here on the peak, though, I can't see anybody in any direction. The registration log testifies that quite a few others, mostly Texans, have been here, but the wind, cold NATIONALGEOGRAPHICARTDIVISION $°G uadal e Mountain National Pa Gibraltar of the desert, El Capitanstands guard behind a bristlingcholla. GuadalupeMountains NationalParkin Texas embraces one of the world's largest exposedfossil reefs, with El Capitanat its prow. The desert below is fried country in summer: tough on boot leather, hard on the unprepared. 135
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