Guadalupe Mountains National Park Continued...

Sun Apr 10
As it turned out congress at the last minute did another short-term budget extension Friday night so we were not forced to leave bright and early Saturday morning. High winds with possible gusts up to 70 mph were predicted for the weekend so we stayed at the Guadalupe National Park to try to wait it out since driving the motor home in these conditions could be dangerous. The wind rocked the "cradle" all last night but we slept well. It is very windy again today but sunny and all the dust must have blown somewhere East of here because the skies are again pretty and blue. We studied scriptures this morning for our Sunday School Class and then embarked on visiting more places in the Park. We first stopped at the remains of the Butterfield Stage Station that was on the stage route from San Francisco to St. Louis, Missouri even before the pony express days.

The contract was to deliver mail in 25 days from one end to the other. There were many challenges including many problems with the Indians. We then went to McKittrick Canyon and Dad wanted to take a hike up the canyon to the Pratt Cabin after we got there. We had not originally planned to take any other than the short nature trail hike and I wasn't a bit happy with the idea but decided to go anyway. It was a nearly five-mile hike but on a fairly nice trail with little elevation climb. The scenery was different from prior desert hikes because of the presence of a stream in the canyon and the high elevation (over 5000 feet).

The Pratt cabin was built in 1932 entirely of stone slabs and is in remarkably good condition.

We hope the wind dies down a bit as we resume our trip tomorrow morning back toward Las Cruces.