The previous day started out pretty nasty, as an early-spring storm came barrelling through the eastern New Mexico plains, dumping a lot of snow. I started yesterday in Vaughn, and made a go at the Guadalupe county highpoint on Mesa Leon, but the snow and white-out conditions nixed that attempt. I figured I'd better get moving southwards, since that was where I was heading anyway, and I didn't want to be bogged down in Vaughn for a whole day doing nothing. I took US-285 into Roswell and on past to Carlsbad. The snow fell pretty heavily most of the drive to Roswell (about 70 miles) and even on into Carlsbad. But because the air temperatures were in the high 20s-low 30s, little of it was accumulating. I decided to duck out of this nastiness and go visit the Carlsbad Caverns. At the visitor's center, it was blowing like crazy and very cold, but once I got below into the main cavern complex, the natural insulation afforded by the earth and rocks made the temperatures a more comfortable 50s. After the caverns, I made an effort at the Loving (TX) county highpoint, which I aborted when the sun began to set, and ended up staying at a hotel in Kermit, Texas.

Just as fast as this storm had come in, it left and the next day started out with crystal-clear skies and very pleasant temperatures. I started early, leaving Kermit and taking TX-302 west about 50 miles through the "main" part of Loving county (I wanted to check out one other possible route) to where TX-302 meets up with US-285. From here it was an easy drive north, back through Carlsbad, to highway NM-137. I turned left (west) onto this road, which is a dead-end highway, as it simply ends at the Dog Canyon visitor's center of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I went 38 miles in on NM-137, eventually turning left (southerly) onto Lincoln Forest Road 540. This road is wide, graveled and well-tended, but I had to take it slow as I must have seen about a dozen deer, often seeming ready to leap out in front of my truck at a moment's notice. About 9 miles in, FR-540 stays high on the Guadalupe Range, offering astounding views down into Dog Canyon (and NM-137, which can be seen as a black ribbon down below). Finally, FR-540 ends at a large turnaround 12 miles in from NM-137. Two lesser-quality roads lead in from this turnaround. The more southerly of the two (carefully reading the map) was the one that I wanted. I drove in a short ways. It's quite rocky, and I only drove in about a half-mile before finding a good secluded spot to park. It was about 9 a.m. and somewhat warm, maybe in the high 60s, and very sunny.

To attain the Eddy highpoint requires a lot of attention to the topo map and the terrain, as there is no trail to this little peaklet. I walked south along the road about another mile, maybe less, to a point where it turned west, amid some fire rings and camping areas. There are two options that most people follow here: stay west along this road another mile, then sidehill along the headwall of North McKittrick Canyon, or descend into the canyon, then re-ascend the other side to the highpoint. I really had no plan so I went west along the road a short bit before growing impatient and deciding to try the canyon descent/ascent. I had to make my way through a moderate forest briefly before coming out into the open, where I had pretty much wide-open visibility at this point. I stayed west of the spot elevation 7,413 shown near the road, and descended along a ridge to a small knob at elevation 6,880 feet, then down into the canyon/creek bed itself. The brush was thick but not too bad; I was more concerned about snakes than anything.

I ascended out of the canyon bottom and achieved the saddle north of the highpoint and south of another peak listed at 7,138 feet on the map. The saddle's elevation is about 6,820 feet, or about 200 feet above the canyon bottom. As I walked up the hillside south of the saddle I noted a very decrepit fence, and arbitrarily decided to stay on its east side. I followed game trails that often petered out, and often found myself hiking directly up the brushy slopes in intermittent tree cover. As I neared the top, I encountered small bands of limestone cliffs, none more than 10 feet high, but just high enough to force me to do some scrambling to get past them. Finally I found what appeared to be a beaten path, relatively speaking, and after a short scramble up some minor chutes, was on top of everything. Now I just needed to seek out the highpoint. It's a small area of 7,480+ feet atop a football-field sized summit plateau. I got confused by a slight rise to the southeast and headed to it, but decided to place my trust in the map and seek out the western area first. Finally, I found it, a wooden fencepost leaning amid a rubbly cairn. I found a sign-in register, and I knew I had the right place! Only four names had been entered since 1998, and I knew all four, which suggests this is a highpoint for the truly dedicated (or truly insane!). With mine, the register now held five hardy souls.

It had taken me two hours to achieve the top, encompassing about 2.5 miles of walking and a gross gain of nearly 1,000 feet. Interestingly, the net gain was no more than 250 feet, as I'd parked above 7,200 feet, but of course the descent/ascent portion of the hike accounted for much of the gain. I had made a lot of effort to memorize my route and obvious reference points so that I could return without undue trouble. The only variation I took was to descend to the saddle at 6,820 feet by staying west of the old fence, which proved to be far easier and less obstacle-ridden. If I were to do this again, I'd stay west of the fence both ways. Live and learn. For reference sake, a huge dead tree amid the living forest from where I'd started worked well, and I simply had to descend/ascend the canyon, hiking by sight, before coming back out to the dirt road. Surprisingly, no trouble at all. I did not use my gps at all during this hike. I was back to my truck at 1 p.m. sharp, and retraced my steps out to the main highways. Later in the day, I visited One Tree Peak, the Eddy County highpoint.