Bush Mountain Trail – Guadalupe Mountains

Distance: 6.5 miles Elevation Gain: 1200 ft Difficulty: Moderate Type: Out-and-Back Surface: Rock, Dirt Activity: Hiking Best Season: Spring, Fall, Winter Typical Time: 3.5–5.5 hours Fee: Park entrance fee required Dogs: False Permit: False

Bush Mountain Trail climbs to the summit of Bush Mountain at 8,631 feet — the second-highest peak in Texas and the highest point wholly within a national park in the state. The route ascends through a striking succession of desert scrub, piñon-juniper woodland, and high-elevation conifer forest of ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, and limber pine — ecosystems more typical of Colorado than the Chihuahuan Desert. From the summit, unobstructed views extend across McKittrick Canyon (one of the Guadalupes' greatest scenic treasures) to the northeast, and south into Mexico's Sierra Diablo range. The Bone Canyon overlook en route exposes the Capitan Reef limestone formation — the fossilized walls of a 260-million-year-old Permian sea that once covered this region. Rocky Mountain elk, reintroduced to the Guadalupes in the 1920s, are regularly spotted in the high-elevation grasslands near the summit. Mule deer are ubiquitous throughout. The trail connects to the Bowl, a hidden 1,000-acre relict forest of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir — a sky island ecosystem that survived the regional warming that created the surrounding desert. Lightning strikes the summit ridge regularly between July and September, the park's monsoon season. Water is available only at Pine Springs Visitor Center; none exists on trail.