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Biking from Van Horn to Guadalupe Mountains
I’m back from my windy West Texas adventure!
I’ll be writing about what it’s like to bicycle from Van Horn to the foot of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park in an upcoming Fit City column. I’ll also be writing about camping and hiking at the park in a future travel article.
Until then, here are a few thoughts …
- 1. Highway 54 north of Van Horn is a gorgeous place to ride your bike. There’s hardly any traffic, mountains snuggle up to the road on both sides, and the terrain varies from flat to almost flat.
- 2. When the weather forecast calls for wind in West Texas, they mean it. (And yes, it’s possible for it to blow so hard you have to pedal downhill.)
- 3. Be sure to check out the high security gate about 20 miles north of Van Horn. That’s the entrance to a commercial spaceport being built by Blue Origin, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos.
- 4. We had to sag it halfway through our 54-mile ride due to winds, but I want to go back and try it again.
- 5. It’s not always that windy in Van Horn. In fact, it was still as a tomb two days after our ride.
- 6. Hotel El Capitan in Van Horn, designed by the same architect who built The Gage in Marathon and the Paisano in Marfa, makes a comfortable, bike-friendly home base for your exploration.
- 7. Yes, it’s possible for it to snow in the Guadalupe Mountains in March!
- 8. Even if it snows in the Guadalupe Mountains in March, you can still enjoy numerous beautiful hikes.
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