I enjoy the mountains more in good weather. Although I have a few winter ascents, the physical challenges of winter can detract from the simple joy and exhilaration of climbing, especially when icy wind gusts are knocking you off balance and penetrating deep through the multiple layers of your winter gear. This presents a challenge for staying mountain fit. Knowing the 14er adage, “the best way to get in shape for climbing mountains is to climb mountains,” how to stay fit in the off-season? My solution has been to climb further south where mountains have warmer weather and lower summit elevations, including many beautiful summits in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Southern California. But, as with many peak-baggers, life seems more interesting when you are working on a “list.” So I decided to climb the ten highest peaks in Texas.

Climbing the high peaks of Texas is not a common objective. Only five of the ten peaks have trails to their summit. The summit register on Shumard Peak indicates that only six to eight parties reach the summit each year. I can understand why. The challenge is not mileage or vertical gain, but bushwhacking and route-finding. I bushwhacked more on my ascent of Shumard than on any of the Colorado 14ers or Centennial 13ers. The campground hosts at Guadalupe National Park’s Pine Springs Campground told me that the park administration has decided to remove all summit registers from the park, but hadn’t yet found an employee willing to go up Shumard to retrieve its register.

Seven of Texas’ ten highest peaks are in Guadalupe NP, including Shumard Peak, #3 at 8,615 ft. Based on trip reports, climbers reach the summit on two different routes. The first route follows a trail to Guadalupe Peak, the state highpoint, and then traverses a ridgeline to Shumard. The second route begins on the Devil’s Hall trail, continues up Pine Springs Canyon through the Devils Hall, and then ascends out of the canyon in a 2+ mile bushwhack to the summit (The description on Summitpost.com suggests a route up the Bush Mountain trail, but this trail ascends rapidly on the east side of Pine Springs Canyon, and would require a major loss of elevation. I didn’t find any trip reports that reached the summit this way so am skeptical of the route). The primary advantage of the first route is that the first 4 miles to Guadalupe Peak are on a Class 1 trail. The bushwhack on the ridge from Guadalupe is a little shorter than the bushwhack on the alternative route, and the higher ridge has less underbrush to whack. Also, route-finding is easier on the ridge route. The major disadvantage is that the route descends about 900 feet between Guadalupe and Shumard, which would add about 1800 vertical feet round-trip. The main route-finding issue on the lower route is finding an exit from Pine Springs Canyon, which is very steep in some places.

To assess both routes, I decided to ascend via the Devils Hall trail, then return via the ridge to Guadalupe Peak. Even after this trip, I don’t have a strong preference for either route. But if forced to make a recommendation I’d chose the Devil’s Hall trail. A GPS track from a report by Zack Lewis on Peakbagger.com helped me find a workable exit from Pine Springs Canyon.

The trail starts at the north end of the parking lot. Follow signs for the Devil’s Hall trail, which gets more interesting about a mile in. The canyon floor is flat and rocky in some places but also requires substantial boulder hopping. The toughest section of the route is the climb from the canyon up to Shumard’s southeast ridge. No way to avoid steep bushwhacking through scrub oak, sagebrush, and pinon pine. I highly recommend avoiding cactus-bashing in the agave and prickly pear. Fearing the worse, I wore old pants and crocodile gaiters, but the underbrush was not as thorny as on a previous hike to Mt. Pratt in another section of the park. The underbrush becomes thinner higher on the ridge, so the hiking becomes easier. The summit offers nice views of the three other high Texas peaks, Guadalupe (#1), Bartlett (#4), and Bush (#2). Great to have a calm bluebird day.

The ridge to Guadalupe Peak requires some serious bushwhacking, the worse is through some dense scrub oaks. My final ascent to the summit required slipping through some steep scree and one class 3 move. From the Guadalupe summit, an easy 4.2 mile class 1 trail takes you back to the trailhead.

Summary observations of the Texas-10 for potential climbers (from easy to difficult):

The peaks are spread over three ranges, the Guadalupes (7 peaks), the Davis mountains (2 peaks, nearest town is Fort Davis), and the Chisos Mountains (1 peak) in Great Bend National Park.

1. The easiest peak is Mount Livermore in the Davis Mountains (#5 in elevation at 8,378’, aka Baldy Peak). The shortest route is only 6 miles round trip and 2000 ft. vertical. A more scenic route that leaves the Jeep trail is a little longer. There is a short class 2+ section near the summit, just watch where you reach or you might grab a cactus. A complication of hiking this peak is that it is on private land, owned by the Nature Conservancy. Pre-pandemic they opened the property to hikers several weekends per year, sometimes for day-hikes, sometimes for overnight camping. They ended this practice for 18 months during the pandemic, but allowed entry again in October 2021. No future open dates are shown on their website as of this writing.
2. Next is Hunter Mountain in the Guadalupes (#6 at 8,368’). There are two routes up the mountain, the Bear Canyon Trail and the Bush Mountain Trail, together they make a nice loop from the main parking area, about 9 miles round-trip and 2500 ft. vertical.
3. The state highpoint Guadalupe Peak (8,751’) is marginally more difficult than Hunter, though I’m not sure everyone would notice the difference, similar mileage and less than 400 ft. difference in vertical. The trail to Guadalupe is the most popular in the park, on other trails I’ve seldom seen more than a single hiker, often none.
4. Bush Mountain (#2 at 8631’) is over 100 feet lower than Guadalupe but has a longer Class 1 trail that goes up and down enough to add significantly to the total vertical ascent. From trip reports and my own GPS I estimate about 15 miles round trip and 4000’ vertical.
5. The trail to Emory Peak (#10 at 7,824’) in the Chisos Mountains is only 9 miles round-trip and 2340’ vertical, but the final summit block requires some class 3 scrambling. I climbed this twice in the 1980’s but my memory of it is a little sketchy. I read a trip report that claims 60 ft. of class 3. In my memory the class 3 section is shorter, but who trusts the 35 year-old memory of a septuagenarian. If you don’t like class 3, this one is more difficult than some of the following peaks.
6. None of the remaining peaks have trails to the summit, but Peak 7916 (#9) in the Guadalupes does not require much bushwhacking and is the easiest of those without summit trails. My GPS logged 11 miles and 2300 vertical feet, which included a short detour to unranked Lost Peak.
7. Bartlett Peak (#4 at 8,508’) is close to Bush Mountain in the Guadalupes. As many others have done, I climbed them both on a day hike. Although the prominence of Bartlett is only 427 feet, the easiest route from the Bush Mountain trail goes below the saddle so adds about 1000 vertical feet to the round-trip. I estimate the Bush/Bartlett combination at 16 miles and 5000 vertical feet.
8. Mt. Pratt (#7 at 8,342’, aka Peak 8342) is in the Guadalupes, but farther east than the other high peaks. Take the Bear Canyon Trail to the Juniper Bowl Trail and continue north until it turns sharply to the west. Leave the trail here and bushwhack to the north-northeast. The route bushwhacks for about 1.5 miles to the summit and has much thorny underbrush. I highly recommend gaiters. There are several rounded hills to the northeast, so study a topo map to make sure you tag the right one. There is no marker on the summit, and this peak doesn’t even show up on the Guadalupe NP brochure map.
9. Mescalero Mountain (#8 at 8040’, aka Peak 8040) is in the Davis Mountains, about a mile west of Mount Livermore. Follow the Mount Livermore trail to the west side of its summit block. Drop down to the west to find a fence line and follow it west toward Mescalero. The east face you are approaching is cliffy, so climb to a saddle left (south) of the summit, and circle around to the west. I wasted some time trying to navigate a class 4+ move on the west side. Don’t waste your time, continue traversing upwards clockwise around the summit and find a nice class 2 route. My GPS recorded 8.4 miles and 3100’ vertical on this route. I’ve heard reports of rattlesnakes both in this area and the Guadalupes but haven’t seen any yet. I like to think that my gaiters provide some protection, but always try to watch ahead when I’m bushwhacking.
10. Shumard Peak (#3 at 8,615’) in the Guadalupes is definitely the most difficult, but still an interesting climb. I finally made the summit on the 4^th attempt, the loop route was about 11 miles round-trip with 3900 feet of elevation gain. I turned back twice at the summit of Guadalupe because of strong winds, and once from the Devil’s Hall route because of dense fog.

Final Note: I obtained my peak list from Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountain_peaks_of_Texas

This list shows El Capitan Peak in the Guadalupes as unranked, with a prominence of 285’. Lists of John shows this peak ranked with 305’ prominence, which would make it #8 at 8,085 feet, which bumps Emory off the list. It’s accessible from the Guadalupe Peak trail and looks like a bushwhacking nightmare. Can’t wait to go back.