Guadalupe Peak, Texas' highest mountain at 8,751 feet, dominates one of the most scenic and least-known hinterlands of the old frontier. It lies behind and to the right of 8,078-foot El Capitan, the sheer cliff that rises more than 3,000 feet above this spot to mark the south end of the Guadalupe range. Starkness of the mountainside belies the lushness which the Guadalupes conceal. Tucked away in their inner folds are watered canyons shaded by towering ponderosa pine, douglas fir, juniper and quaking aspen. McKittrick Canyon, scene of a four-mile trout stream, is also the habitat of the state's only herd of wild elk. Seer and turkeys abound. Stories of hidden gold go back to Spanish days. The conquistadors who rode north from Mexico wrote about fabulous deposits. Geronimo, the Apache chief, said the richest gold mines in the western world lay hidden in the Guadalupes. Legend holds that Ben Sublett, a colorful prospector of the 1880s, slipped off at night to a cave and returned with bags of nuggets. Probably less is known about the archeology of the Guadalupes than of any other area in the Southwest. Excavators have found spearheads, pictographs and human remains together with bones of long-extinct bison, dire wolf and musk ox in cliff caves. At hermit cave in last chance canyon, carbon-14 dating indicates occupancy 12,000 years ago. Geologically, the Guadalupes present a spectacular exposure of the famous capitan prehistoric barrier reef, said to be the most extensive fossil organic reef known.
Guadalupe Peak
The roadside stories worth pulling over for.
Guadalupe Peak is a historical marker in Pine Springs, Culberson County, dedicated in 2004. It is one of 11 historical markers documented in Culberson County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 18 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 31.8540, -104.8446 near Pine Springs. The nearest cataloged historic site is Ruins of "The Pinery" or "Pine Springs" Stage Stand (historical marker), about 3.2 miles away. Others within a short drive include Pinery Station, Pratt, Wallace, Lodge, and Figure 2 Ranch.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5109007930. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
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