Day 5, Part 2: Wednesday, April 26th, 2006
Marfa, Texas to El Paso, Texas

Previous Home Next

The road north of Van Horn passes by a mountain range that's labeled the "Sierra Diablo" on my road atlas.

In the distance, I can see Guadalupe Peak. Its front face is dominated by a sheer limestone cliff formation known as "El Capitan".

This sign was posted at the Visitor Center of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. After reading it, I felt pretty sure that I had good reason to be afraid of mountain lions.

The hike to the top of the mountain takes a moderately strenuous four hours, and it rewards you with 360 degrees of panoramic desert views once you get to the top. It makes you feel like you're in an airplane, really.

This is what El Capitan looks like from up above.

At the high point itself, the Northwest Airlines corporation placed this marker in the late '50s to commemorate the "adventurous spirit" of their pilots and navigators. A government-issued notebook was stored in a metal box underneath this monument, in which you could record your name and your impressions of the journey up the mountain.

Note the bird flying in the sky beyond the monument. These "swifts" would fly around so fast that they'd make a zipping noise through the air. Every time I heard one, I thought that it was a mountain lion coming to get me.


Proud to have made it to the top.

From down below, El Capitan basks in the glow of the afternoon sun.

Previous Home Next