Guadalupe Mountains National Park

Guadalupe Mountains National Park in far west Texas protects the world's most extensive fossil Permian reef, exposed along an escarpment that rises abruptly from the Chihuahuan Desert floor. Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 2,667 meters, is reachable via an 8.5-kilometer round-trip trail through arid scrub and pine forest. The McKittrick Canyon section of the park supports a relict riparian woodland that produces a brief but vivid autumn foliage display each October, rare in this desert region.