It was a two hour drive to Guadalupe National Park. Much of the drive was over mostly flat land. We could see mountains in the distance. As we neared Guadalupe National Park, we entered the mountains.
We finally reached the park.
Our first stop at Guadalupe National Park was the Pinery Trail. It is the area around an old stage coach stop. We visited the remains of the old stage coach building.
After the Pinery, we headed to Manzanita and Smith Springs. We hiked a trail up the mountain to see the two springs. The trail began on a nice dirt road. The dirt road took us to Manzanita Springs. A dam was built near the springs that created a small pond. After Manzanita Springs, the trail turned to a steep rocky trail. Just before we got to Smith Springs, we looked back down the trail at this gorgeous vista of the valley below.
A short hike later, we saw Smith Springs. There was a small creek, a small waterfall, and a shallow pond. We also saw numerous dragon flies.
During the hike to the springs, we also saw several varieties of flowers .
Our hike down was a little easier than the hike up the mountain. We saw the valley below many times on the way down.
Our final destination in Guadalupe National Park was McKittrick Canyon. We took a short, steep hike to the top of a ridge to get a view of the canyon.
When we finished our short hike, we drove toward Carlsbad Caverns. The drive went by mesas and rolling hills.
When we got to our hotel, the woman at check in said we should drive to Carlsbad Caverns to see the nightly bat flight. We followed her advice. We spent about an hour listening to an interesting talk about the bats and the caverns. Finally, as the sun was setting, the bats began to exit the cavern. Thousands of bats came out continuously in large groups. We got one picture of only a few bats. The night flight was amazing!
Two national parks in one day is a great day.