5 Best Sights in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas

Thirteen campsites have picnic tables, which you can use during the day for free. This is a lovely shaded area at 6,300 elevation where you're likely to see mule deer. Drinking water and restrooms are available on the grounds, about a two-hour drive from the Headquarters Visitor Center.

With its grassy, tree-shaded grounds, you could almost imagine this handsome and peaceful little 1876 ranch house somewhere other than the harsh Chihuahuan Desert. Inside what's believed to be the region's oldest intact structure, displays and photographs depict ranch life and early park history. Easy, family-friendly hiking trails lead to wildlife oases at Manzanita Spring and Smith Spring. Hours are sporadic, so check with the visitor center if you wish to go inside. Still, it's good fun just to explore the ranch grounds and outbuildings, orchard, and still-functioning irrigation system.

Drinking water, restrooms, and a picnic area are available at this central campground with sweeping mountain views. Shade, however, can be sparse and summer heat intense. You can walk off that hearty lunch along one of the several nearby hiking trails.

It's not very secluded, but Frijole sports attractive picnic shelters near the parking area, which also has restrooms. Two picnic tables are also set up under tall trees near Frijole Ranch History Museum.

In the mid-1800s passengers en route from St. Louis to California on the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach route stopped here for rest and refreshment. At more than a mile in elevation, the station was the highest on the journey, but it operated for only about a year. The ruins provide a peek into the past: the bare remains of a few buildings with rock walls (but no roofs) layered on the desert floor. Do not touch. You can drive here from U.S. 62/180, but it's more interesting to stroll over via the paved ¾-mile round-trip natural trail from the visitor center.