I found these old photos and thought they'd be interesting to share.  This was one of my most memorable backpacking trips.  I hiked into a little known and rarely visited part of Guadalupe National Park to do a photo shoot as the semester project for a Photo Journalism class I took at a local college.  My intention was to display the many different ecosystems in the Guadalupe Mountains.   The ecosystems range from Chihuahuan Desert to Conifer Forest and also includes Eastern Hardwood Forest.  What made the trip memorable is that I did the trip by myself to a remote part of the park and the first night there was an unusually hard snow for that time of year (May) of about 6 inches that covered everything.  That made hiking in the rocky, cactus infested mountains a bit tricky and I was "snowed in" for two days before the weather cleared enough for me to make a climb out of the canyon.  Being alone in the mountains 100 miles from the nearest town during a dynamic weather event like that atypical snow was both exhilarating and psychologically testy.  These photos were taken the day I climbed out after the snow had melted enough for me to see what I was walking on.

In the next two pictures you see a sample of the formidable plants in the Guadalupe Mountains.  The first two days after the snow, plants like the agave were completely covered and indistinguishable from rocks or mounds of grass.  The spines on the agave are rigid and sharp and can easily penetrate even the strongest boot leather.

The mature prickly pear cactus fruit in the picture below is an indication of how late in the year this snow occurred.

In the photo below you can see two poles I used to steady myself while climbing the steep and slippery incline of the snow covered mountain.   They are dead agave flower stalks I picked up during the climb out.  Holding one in each hand like ski poles I was able to negotiate the precarious footing without mishap.  Seeing the canteen in the picture reminds me that I ran out of water when the weather forced me to camp two days longer than I had planned for.  There is no surface water in this part of the park so I melted snow to provide myself with drinking and cooking water.

I had been camped at the bottom of the canyon you see in the photo below.  This exposure was taken about 2,000 feet above the canyon floor on my way to the top of the mesa, an additional 500 foot climb, where my car was parked.