Make Plans Now to Visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park/Fall Highlights!

 

There are THREE big reasons to visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park this fall.

REASON #1:

Saturday, October 6, the park is celebrating its 40th anniversary with the National Park Service!

Guadalupe Mountains National Park Announces Schedule of Activities, Adds
Performances and Programs for 40th Anniversary Celebration

(Pine Springs, TX) Guadalupe Mountains National Park Superintendent DennisA. Vásquez announced the schedule of activities, and additional performers and activities for the park’s 40th anniversary celebration on Saturday,
October 6, 2012 from 9:00 AM until 4:30 PM. The park was authorized on 1966, but was established on September 30, 1972. The day’s activities will include musical and dance performances, hay rides, pony rides for the children, special guest speakers and delicious BBQ at Frijole Ranch, Butterfield Overland Mail and Buffalo Soldier living history at the Pinery Butterfield Stage Ruins, and lectures, films, and special photograph and mural exhibits at the Pine Springs Visitor Center. New performers and activities that have just confirmed are the Mescalero Apache War Dance Group from Mescalero, New Mexico, Mariachi Unido from Loving, New Mexico, the 1st Armored Division Band from Fort Bliss, Texas, Buffalo Soldier living history by the Donnie W. Brown Chapter of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Association and the Buffalo Soldier Motorcycle Club, both of El Paso, and 19th Century living history by 6 Guns and Shady Ladies of El Paso. The park’s non-profit cooperating association partner, the Carlsbad Caverns Guadalupe Mountains Association (www.ccgma.org) will sell books, water bottles and other interpretive and thematic items throughout the day at Frijole Ranch and in the Pine Springs Visitor Center Bookstore. The Texas Mountain Trail and Peak Fitness Challenge will be on hand at Frijole Ranch throughout the day, informing visitors about those partnerships, and the El Paso Visitor and Convention Bureau will be on hand with information about regional attractions. All 40th Anniversary activities are free.

The schedule of activities for the day follows:
Frijole Ranch
9:30 AM to 10:30 AM – Mariachi Unido from Loving, New Mexico (Mariachi Music)
10:30 AM to 11:30 AM – Welcome and Opening Remarks
11:30 AM to 1:00 PM – Muletones from Dell City, Texas (Country Western Music)
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM – The 1st Armored Division Army Band from Fort Bliss, Texas (Patriotic Music)
2:15 PM to 3:15 PM – Ceiba from El Paso, Texas (Latin American Folk Music and Dance)
3:30 PM to 4:30 PM – The Mescalero Apache War Dance Group from Mescalero, New Mexico
9:30 AM to 4:30 PM – Hayrides and Children’s Pony Rides The Pinery Butterfield Station Ruins
9:30 AM to 3:30 PM – Butterfield Overland Mail Living History and authentic Butterfield Stagecoach Exhibit with National Park Service Staff
9:30 AM to 3 30 PM – Buffalo Soldier Living History and Exhibit with the Donnie W. Brown Chapter of the 9th and 10th Cavalry Association and the Buffalo Soldier Motorcycle Club of El Paso, Texas
9:30 AM to 3:30 PM – 19th Century Old West Living History with 6 Guns and Shady Ladies of El Paso, Texas

The Pine Springs Visitor Center
9:30 AM to 3:30 PM – Guadalupe Mountains National Park Mural by Muralist Brother Boko of the Carlsbad Mural Project, a project of the Carlsbad Community Anti-Drug/Gang Coalition, and young artists from Carlsbad, New
Mexico, on the Front Patio
8:00 AM to 4:30 PM – Guadalupe Mountains National Park Photo Exhibit by local Photographers Chuck Burton, Randy Rakes and Dale Pate
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM – A Historical Overview of Guadalupe Mountains National Park and the Guadalupe Mountains by Historian Dr. Jeffrey Shepherd of the University of Texas, El Paso, in the Auditorium
2:00 PM to 3:00 PM – The Butterfield Overland Trail Corridor by Historical Architect Dr. Julia McGilvray of SWCA Environmental Consultants of Austin, Texas, in the Auditorium.

More to be added, so contact the Pine Springs Visitor Center or visit the
park’s website (www.nps.gov/GUMO/), Facebook page (www.facebook.com/Guadalupe.Mountains/) or Meetup page (www.meetup.com/Guadalupe-Mountains-National-Park-Meetup-Group/) for
updates.
All visitor parking for this event will be at the main Pine Springs Visitor
Center Parking Area.  However, free shuttles will run between the visitor
center, Frijole Ranch and the Pinery, throughout the day.

REASON #2:

Guadalupe Mountains National Park will also formally launch the Peak Fitness Challenge (www.texasmountaintrail.com/hikewww.texasmountaintrail.com/hike) on October 6, along with partners Franklin Mountains State Park in El Paso (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/franklin-mountains), the Texas Mountain Trail (www.texasmountaintrail.com), one of ten Texas heritage trails, and GeoBetty, that day. The Peak Fitness Challenge is a new partnership effort to encourage people to enjoy the many spectacular trails, in both Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Franklin Mountains State Park, to achieve their peak fitness level and enjoy the mental and physical health benefits  of hiking in America’s Great Outdoors. The Peak Fitness Challenge supports the National Park Service’s Call to Action and Health Parks, Healthy People US Action Plan.

Said Vásquez, “the park staff has worked very hard to plan an event worthy of this momentous occasion, and we are grateful to all of the performers and everyone who help us celebrate 40 years of Guadalupe Mountains National Park history. Even more importantly, we invite everyone to remain engaged with us as we look forward to and celebrate the future of this wonderful park. We hope old friends of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, as well as new, will join us for a full day of family fun as we go into our fifth decade. With more than 80 miles of hiking trails through some of the most
spectacular scenery anywhere, Guadalupe Mountains National Park is very much a hiking park. We are proud to launch the Peak Fitness Challenge with our partners and encourage everyone to use the park to exercise and become more fit and healthy. We hope that all who visit on October 6th will
continue to visit, hike, camp, watch wildlife, photograph and enjoy Guadalupe Mountains National Park.”

REASON #3:

Fall color usually comes to the park in late October or early November.