Week 52: One year of full time vanlife!
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas to Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico
Hey, friends! Hello, fam! Welcome back to another weekly update! This is a super special post because we’re celebrating one year of full time vanlife! WOO HOO! It all went by so dang fast. I have a yearly recap post in the works which I hope to post mid-week, so stay tuned.
I’m writing this from our dispersed camping spot in Lincoln National Forest near Five Points Vista, New Mexico, bordering Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Based on your feedback I’ll be adding a map to the beginning of each post so you can see where we’re at:
Monday-Tuesday: Dog Canyon Campground, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas
We started the week off at Dog Canyon Campground in Guadalupe Mountains National Park (GUMO). We love it here because there are only 4 “RV” spots, and it’s mostly just us so it’s pretty peaceful. In this campground you need to book an RV spot if you’re sleeping in a vehicle, including rooftop tents.
The sites are right across from the main trailhead and back up to a horse corral — we’ve only seen horses here one time:
And here’s the out the back of the van — it never gets old:
The Guadalupe Mountains are part of a mostly buried 400-mile-long U-shaped fossil reef complex, Capitan Reef, which extends through a large area of west Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The longest exposed stretch of Capitan Reef, 12 miles of which is in the park, extends from Guadalupe Mountains National Park northeast almost to the city of Carlsbad, New Mexico, a distance of almost 40 miles. This 260-million- to 270-million-year-old reef is one of the world’s finest examples of an ancient reef system.
So cool thinking about how this area used to be covered by ocean!
The campground turkeys stopped by a few times — I was finally able to snag a photo of them out the van window:
Monday we decided to have a camp day and recover from all of our adventures last week, and I did a quick sketch of some desert roses we saw while we were hiking:
Felt so good to relax and recharge.
Tuesday: Hiking Bush Mountain
Since we were leaving Wednesday we had to get one last hike in — and that was Bush Mountain. We’ve done this hike several times before and we knew we wouldn’t have time to hike the whole way up, but it felt good to stretch our legs and just ramble.
The light made the grasses seem to glow:
Then we noticed some clouds rolling in and decided to play it safe and head back to camp.
It’s a good thing we did because pretty soon we started hearing thunder!
As soon as we got back to the trailhead it started spitting rain, it got super windy, and then the skies opened up with rain and even a little hail.
The area really needed the rain, but I felt bad for all the people camping in tents — I remember those days all too well!
Wednesday: Bye, Texas!
On Wednesday we sadly left Guadalupe Mountains National Park to head on down the road.
Farewell, Dog Canyon! We’ll miss you! Bye, Texas! Catch ya next time.
Wednesday: Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico
We didn’t get very far!
The Guadalupe District of Lincoln National Forest is only about 3.8 miles away as the raven flies, but it took us about an hour to drive here, ha!
Here’s a look back at the way we came so you get a feel for how the Guadalupe Mountains — aka the Guads for short — rise above the desert floor:
And here’s a view right down the road from our dispersed campsite — so lush and green compared to the desert. What a difference being at 7,000 feet in elevation makes!
We zonked out and slept so well — needed that.
Thursday: Hiking Big Canyon
Thursday marked one year of traveling full time in the van! I still can’t believe we’ve been traveling for a full year!
We had to do something fun to mark the occasion — which for us means going for a hike. So we set off right from our campsite to the Big Canyon Trail.
The views couldn’t be beat! It started like this:
Then pretty soon we saw our old friends, Lost Peak — that we hiked last week — and Bush Mountain that we hiked earlier THIS week!
After 3 miles we came to this incredible view — the perfect spot for a lunch break:
While we were eating the wind started kicking up and some clouds rolled in, so we turned around and started the trek back to camp.
We made it back just in time! (Noticing a pattern here?)
We got some much needed rain, and celebrated our one year anniversary of full time travel with a blueberry-banana smoothie. Yum!
What an awesome hike, for 6 miles on the day!
Friday: Hiking Camp Wilderness Ridge
Friday morning we woke up early so we could hike the Camp Wilderness Ridge Trail, with a high point of 7,400 feet in elevation. It blew my mind when I found out that this trail turns into the Permian Reef Trail at the boundary with Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Whoa!
The other thing that blew my mind? We had clouds over the trail!
When it first started happening I saw “something” coming over a ridge in the distance and I got worried it was smoke from a wildfire due to the storm yesterday. I didn’t smell smoke, though.
We watched the sky tensely for a few minutes.
Then more and more clouds and mist started coming in and we knew we were safe.
It was so amazing!
I couldn’t stop taking photos!
The mist made the pines and junipers smell so good. I wanted to bottle up the scent and bring it back to the van.
Then we got to a clearing and could see more clouds:
I made a little video of the experience when we got back to camp because the photos couldn’t capture the movement — click to watch it on Instagram:
In another clearing we were able to spot Bush Mountain and Lost Peak again — so cool, right?
I’ve never seen anything like this in the Guads! Kinda made me think we were in the Smokies. I did some research on how this happened and I’m guessing it was due to an inversion. (Thanks, @HappyHikerNM!)
Then the sun came out and really lit up the clouds:
Just so cool!
We took our time on the way back to camp, savoring every second.
All too soon the sun came out, burning off the clouds. It felt really hot after that sweet cool misty morning, so we just had to have another smoothie when we got back. :)
What a once-in-a-lifetime hike, with 7.5 miles on the day.
Where Are We Headed Next?
We’ve hatched a very roundabout plan to make our way to Ohio by August to visit family, head to Allegheny National Forest in Pennsylvania for my residency in September, then head back to Ohio to celebrate my Dad’s 80th birthday in October.
Are you ready for the crazy big plan?
Here goes!
We’re heading north from here to Cimmaron Campground in Carson National Forest, New Mexico, then Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, then on to Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado (we scored reservations on our one year van-iversary, woo hoo!) , then Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming (if we can get reservations, cross your fingers!), then Grand Teton National Park (ditto!), then across the top of the Great Lakes to finally drop down to Ohio.
Whoa!
Can’t believe we’re doing this!
I’ve wanted to visit Rocky Mountain National Park for forever! Same with Yellowstone! Sure hope we get in. And the Tetons have always been on my bucket list.
Have any recommendations for our route? Drop me a comment below, I’d love to hear them!
Annnnnnd that’s a wrap for this week. I still can’t believe it’s been a year since we started traveling full time — it feels like we’re just getting started. So happy for this life we get to live. If you’re thinking of doing some traveling my advice is not to wait until “someday” comes — take small steps to make it happen. Go on weekend trips close to home or while visiting friends and family. Explore where you live like you’re brand-new to the area. And most of all, have fun — because that’s what it’s all about!
And I know I always say it, but it really means so much to have you along for the ride!— Lisa, Jason, and Walter-the-Van
Yellowstone and grand Teton NPs are surrounded by 5 national forests. There is some dispersed camping mostly out west of YELL but most camping is done in designated sites. It is grizzly country so take that seriously. Maybe you already know all this!!
Congrats on one year! As you head north from Rocky Mountain NP I would recommend checking out Vedawoo near Laramie, WY. Very cool rock formations. And from there northward Sinks Canyon by Lander,WY is also pretty awesome. Of course you’re always welcome to visit the Bighorn National Forest near Sheridan, WY and say hi! If you come this was you should hike to either Tensleep or Porcupine Falls and be sure to check out the Medicine Wheel. I have lots of other WY beta but need a real keyboard to type out all the cool things you could explore!