Why is it that just about every tourist or scenic area in this country has to name some feature or trail Devii’s something-or-other? It seems to me we have an odd fascination with anything Devil-related. Maybe it’s because it sounds so treacherous, dangerous, and spooky? This thought struck me as I hiked Devil’s Hall trail in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park today. The terminus of the trail was a series of natural rock steps that are called the Hiker’s Staircase, because they do resemble man-made stairs, that leads to the trail turn around point of a rock formation that looks like two towering walls with a narrow hallway between – Devil’s Hall. Personally, I think it should have been called God’s Hall as it was so beautiful to behold. Ah, the glory of nature!

Devil's Hall at Guadalupe Mountains National Park

The hike was 4.2 miles round trip and considered moderate in difficulty. It was relatively flat and mostly followed the Riparian area (where flora and fauna abound around a water feature like a stream or river) that consisted of a dry riverbed. From the looks of the boulders and rocks I had to climb and hike, when the water is flowing, it is one mighty river!

The hike took me about 3 hours – mostly because I stopped so often to take video and pictures. It was a beautiful hike and a beautiful day for it. The winds were light down in the protected gulch and the sky was clear. The temperatures were mild – low 80s.

I didn’t see much wildlife other than a couple of lizards and a few birds, as well as some butterflies, flies, and a few bees. I did come across a dead desert gray coyote though. It was a small one, and lying in a small and shallow cavern. It didn’t look to have been dead very long as there were only a few flies and the smell of death was light yet. I couldn’t determine if it had just laid down and died (as it looked so perfectly placed and peaceful) or had been left there by a predator like a mountain lion. Chuck said maybe it had fallen from the rocks above, which is a good theory, though it would have had to crawl in to die as there was a rock roof overhead. Anyway, I was cautious as there are mountain lions in the area, so I moved on for the rest of my hike.

Later in the day Chuck, Shadow, and I hiked the short trail from the visitor’s center to see the old Butterfield Stagecoach Stop ruins. Unbelievably, the Butterfield Stagecoach route was from St. Louis to San Francisco, running through this area, and only took 24 days! That’s REALLY fast, especially considering the terrain and the times – 1858!

We spent the rest of the day resting, looking over the pictures and videos I took on the hike, reading, and finished watching Gods and Generals on DVD on my Mac before the battery completely ran out. Chuck ran the generator a little while during the day to recharge our electronics – computers and camera batteries, otherwise we’re doing fine without the generator for the RV. Boondocking for a couple of days is not a problem for our batteries and we’re rather conservative with what we use.

Chuck talked with a fellow camper who had solar panels on his rig. Turns out he’s been full-timing for about three years now and has had them just about the entire time. Cost him $5000 for the panels and two heavy duty batteries. He said with the solar panels he can bookdock just about indefinitely as long as the sun is shining. It’s a nice upgrade we’d like to eventually do ourselves, but the cost is too much for us now and we really can’t justify it yet as we’re doing fine with just our batteries and generator when necessary. Of course, we haven’t boondocked for more than a couple of days at a time yet. When we get an opportunity to camp in some more remote places, I’m sure we’ll be envying those panels.

The winds are howling as we are off to bed and are really shaking the camper. Chuck said they had been pretty strong while I was hiking, but I didn’t notice it too much in the valley I was in. I did notice them getting stronger as the day wore on though. Now they’re gusting wildly. Hope they die down soon!