In addition to park fire regulations:
. Smoking limited to inside a vehicle.
· No open fires (this includes wood, charcoal and/or gas fire pits) are permitted anywhere in the park.
· Use of gas canister stoves for cooking are still allowed at this time
Humans have frequented the Guadalupe Mountains for over 10,000 years, from early hunter-gatherers, settlers, and military, to entrepreneurs, ranchers, geologists, and conservationists. In many instances, there is little evidence of their stay, and we are must carefully piece together the circumstances of their lives. But for many, the historic structures, ruins, remnants, and written record vividly recount their existence in this majestic landscape.
Tucked deep into South McKittrick Canyon, the Hunter Line Shack stands as a wilderness remnant of the Hunter-Grisham partnership which consolidated small West Texas ranches into a large corporate entity to make it economically viable in the early Twentieth Century.
Locations:Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail, Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Visit the ruins of the Pinery Station and get a sense of the isolation and rugged beauty that travelers experienced here in 1858. The old stone walls stand today as a testament to the spirit of change that early travelers, station keepers, and stage drivers carried as they passed this way over a century and a half ago.
Pratt Cabin, also referred to as the Stone Cabin, is located in the northeast part of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park which is approximately 110 miles east of El Paso, Texas. Pratt Cabin was designed by noted Houston architect John F. Staub. The Cabin is constructed predominantly of local limestone and pine wood timbers. The design of the Cabin reflects an appreciation of the unique geological resources of the canyon and the rustic setting in which it is situated.
A key remnant of the early Twentieth Century ranching era, the Williams ranch house lies approximately one mile northeast of the original Butterfield Overland Stage Route, which moved further south in 1859. The house is situated in a narrow valley between the Guadalupe Mountains to the east and the Patterson Hills to the west. The ranch sits at the mouth of Bone Canyon, placing it close to the perennial water source of Bone Spring.
Frijole Ranch is a delightful oasis on the edge of the dry, lower slopes of the Guadalupe escarpment which truly captures the rugged sprit of the American West. Today the Frijole Ranch History Museum occupies the old ranch headquarters, and displays the sequential human history of the Guadalupes from Native Americans and the early ranching community to the establishment of a national park. Imagine what life may have been like in this remote West Texas location 100 years ago.
Designed in 1941 and built between 1941 and 1943, the Ship on the Desert was commissioned by Wallace E. Pratt, a petroleum geologist known as an innovator in the field of scientific oil exploration. The Ship on the Desert is an early example of 20th century modernism, distinct for West Texas. Today, Ship on the Desert remains under the care of the National Park Service and is generally not open to the public.
The Pine Springs Café was a roadside business located along U.S Highway 62/180 from the 1930s through the 1990s. Owned by Walter and Bertha Glover, the complex included a gas station, store, café, and guesthouse with cabins for overnight stays.
On the remote west side of the Guadalupe Mountains, below Bartlett Peak stands the Pure Well. This abandoned oil well stands as a testament to repeated, unsuccessful efforts to locate oil in the Guadalupe Mountains, even by a family dedicated to preserving this landscape.
