Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is a national park in the Guadalupe Mountains of West Texas and contains Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet (2,667 m) in elevation. Located east of El Paso, it also contains El Capitan, long used as a landmark by people traveling along the old route later followed by the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach line. Visitors can see the ruins of an old stagecoach station near the Pine Springs Visitor Center. Camping is available at the Pine Springs Campground and Dog Canyon. The restored Frijole Ranch House is now a small museum of local ranching history and is the trailhead for Smith Spring. The park covers 86,367 acres (134.95 sq mi; 349.51 km) and is in the same mountain range as Carlsbad Caverns National Park which is located about 25 miles (40 km) to the north in New Mexico. A number of trails exist in the park for hiking and horse-riding. Climbing over 3,000 feet (910 m) to the summit of Guadalupe Peak, the Guadalupe Peak Trail winds through pinyon pine and Douglas-fir forests and has views of El Capitan and the Chihuahuan Desert.