Guadalupe Mountains National Park: McKittrick Canyon

Today Noelle, my Mom, Dad, sister Katie, Sierra and I headed into Texas. Noelle and I were itching to go on our nearly annual hike into McKittrick Canyon and this time we were excited to have some company. From the parking lot we headed out on the trail.

The going was relatively easy in the cool November air.

We stopped to look at some of the plants like the yuccas, agave, and sotols. Soon we were into some thicker tree coverage. There were some madrones

and even some maples. We crossed McKittrick Creek a few times on the stepping stones.

Shortly after the second stream crossing, Mom's heel was bothering her enough that she and Dad decided to head back to the parking lot. Noelle, Sierra, Katie and myself headed on to Pratt Cabin.

Soon we found ourselves at the rock cabin. Sierra was wet and so we found a nice place to change her on one of the tables outside

and then fed her on the front porch.

The cabin was open, and so we had a look inside for a bit before relaxing outside.

After a few minutes lounging on the benches outside it was time to hit the trail again.

It was a nice comfortable walk back towards the parking lot.

We saw a pair of mule deer and enjoyed the autumn colors. Near the end of the trail we caught back up with Mom and Dad and hiked with them back to the cars. It was a wonderful first hike with our beautiful daughter and a wonderful hike with family in the crisp fall air!