My Online Etsy Store Travels to Guadelope Mountains, Texas

El Capitan on left and Guadalupe Peak on Right

The Guadalupe Mountains are a mountain range located in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. The range includes the highest summit in Texas, Guadalupe Peak, 8,749 ft (2,667 m), and the "signature peak" of West Texas, El Capitan, both located within Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and Lincoln National Forest.

Guadalupe Peak

The Guadalupe Mountains are surrounded by the South Plains to the east and north, Delaware Mountains to the south, and Sacramento Mountains to the west.  The range is named for the Lenape, who are also known as the Delaware Indians.  Being from Delaware I am familiar with the Lenape, but I had no idea there was a mountain range named after them.

Cactus in bloom

These mountains and surrounding area are set aside as a wildlife preserve.  There is limited access to them so as not to disturb anything.  You can park your car and hike or climb from one spot.  I would love to climb to the top and hear and see the elk bugling in the fall.

Even though there looks like there are only browns and greens in the mountains, when you look carefully you can find flowers with lots of color.  Even the cactus have flowers with color.  I like to photograph different color combinations in nature to use in my jewelry.  Right now I am working on a necklace for the Octoberfest Challenge 2014 sponsored by Toltec Jewels.  Next month, a number of us are showing off the jewelry that we have created for this. I was trying to decide whether to go with a bat theme or spiders theme.  Right now I am leaning toward a spider theme for my Bay Moon Design Online Store   entry in this challenge.  The ceramic I am thinking about using as green in it and these yellow flowers against the green foliage is inspiring my to use this color combination.

Rain clouds passing over mountain

Unfortunately, our trip to the mountains was cut short by rain.  There were floor warnings and when we saw the rain clouds approaching we decided to get out.  The rain can come down from the mountain tops quickly and before you know it, you can be in big trouble. We saw enough roads that showed signs of flood damage that we wanted to get out while the getting was good.