expedition #2 Texas: Nolan Turner

On this expedition out in Texas, we went to Big Bend National Park, The McDonald Observatory, and Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

When we went to Big Bend National Park, it was extremely cold. At one point, it reached a low of 1 degree outside. There was also a lot of snow. Even though we set up a tarp over our sleeping bags, it was still full of frost in the morning. The cool part about all of this was that we were so high in elevation that we were in the clouds. It was a total of 13 miles (much easier than the Grand Canyon). That was our first backcountry trip in Texas.

Our second trip was a one-night trip to the McDonald Observatory. It is a huge place full of telescopes showing us all kinds of neat stuff. When we were done with that, we got a constellation tour. The guide taught us about my favorite constellation, Orion the Hunter. Orion the Hunter is the best shaped and the coolest looking in my opinion.

Lastly, we went to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This was a day hike and was a total of 8.5 miles round trip. It was an easy hike. We cruised through the first part of the top of the mountain, which is also the top of Texas (so yes, I once was the tallest man in Texas). The bad part about reaching the top is that it is very windy. When we got up there, we put our names in the record book at the top of the mountain.

This expedition went by fast. It was fun but also cold. Though it won’t be cold on my expedition in California (channel islands). I can’t wait to be back in warmth and humidity and also to blog about it.