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Backpacker Magazine – August 2012

From The Field: Central

Our trail scouts' top local hikes

by: Sarah L. Stewart

PAGE 1 2 3 4 5
Dunes Trail (Photo by: Heeb Christian / Age Fotostock)
Dunes Trail (Photo by: Heeb Christian / Age Fotostock)
Lake Lincoln (Photo by: Anthony Harrison)
Lake Lincoln (Photo by: Anthony Harrison)
Smith Spring Trail, Guadalupe Mountains NP, TX
Michael Haynie Carlsbad, NM

The majority of this grassland’s annual 15 to 20 inches of rain falls from July to September, producing bright green grasses and flowers such as yellow cowpen daisy and skeleton-leaf goldeneye. “We get incredible afternoon and evening thunderstorms,” Haynie says. “A lot of people are surprised at the sheer variety of plant and animal life, especially in late summer.” Take this 2.3-mile loop to Smith Spring, a mossy, travertine-terraced oasis that seeps even during the driest year on record (last year). Trip ID 555344

“You can see horned and whiptail lizards along the trail.”


PAGE 1 2 3 4 5

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