The Traveller

Sticks and Stones, November 2006

One key motivation for this trip was to see for myself Rattlesnake Canyon at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, scene of the story of two college students who supposedly got lost there, leading to the death of one of them, in the summer of 1999. Abby and I had both eagerly read the book about the event, Jason Kersten’s “Journal of the Dead,” and after studying the topographic map of the trails at the park couldn’t figure out exactly how anyone could get lost there.

Trail head, Rattlesnake Canyon

Day 1…

•Driving day to Carlsbad, New Mexico. I only shot a couple of items at sunset, but I managed to get a huge number of stickers in my shoelaces.

West Texas Sunset

Day 2…

•Up before dawn on a beautiful day, I was unable to find breakfast or even coffee.

•I was at Carlsbad by 6:45 am, to find that nothing was open, neither the road to the trails nor the visitor’s center. I hiked for some distance on the Old Guano Road trail, making a few passable images.

Moonset, Old Guano Road Trail

•Drove to the Rattlesnake Canyon trail head, where I immediately found the trail to be as poorly marked as any I had hiked in recent memory. Also, unlike the canyons of Utah, these have a certain “sameness” to them. I was especially discouraged by the trail head, which left me guessing and blundering into the wash from anywhere. I could definitely see how someone might get lost.

Along Rattlesnake Canyon

•The side canyon that leads to Rattlesnake Canyon is brushy and indistinct. Rattlesnake Canyon itself is wider, and lined with white limestone where the wash runs. I hiked it in both directions and found some of the landmarks mentioned in “Journal of the Dead.” I concluded that while navigation is something of a challenge in the area, ultimately it would be unlikely that I could get as lost as the hikers in the book did. Even if you were unable to find the side canyon that lead back to the parking area, in a pinch you could hike north to another trail, the Guadalupe Ridge Trail, which would then lead you to the road that would take you back to your car or the visitor’s center. And finally, you could hike southeast our of the canyons into the open desert, which places you just five miles west of a major highway.

Map of the area in question

•My final conclusion was that you would have to be pretty inexperienced and a very poor navigator to get lost and then trapped in this area. Local law enforcement believed that one of the hikers, Raffi Kodikian, lured his partner, David Coughlin, to the canyon for the expressed purpose of murdering him, and arrested and charged him with that crime. Neither theory fully explains the events, and my visit didn’t really answer any more questions than it asked. Abby and I both recommend the book.

•By afternoon I was at nearby Guadalupe Mountains National Park, my second visit to the park, hiking the Devil’s Hall Trail, which was exceptionally beautiful with autumn color.

Along the Devil’s Hall trail

The Devil’s Hall

•Arriving at Guadalupe today felt somehow like coming home. In all the hiking I did today, I only saw three other people.

Day 3…

•An exceptional day on the trails, today hiking from the McKittrick Canyon Visitor’s Center on the northern end of Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

View from McKittrick Canyon

•In the morning I hiked McKittrick Canyon to the Hunter Line Cabin and the Grotto.

Foliage and sun viewed from the Grotto

•By afternoon, I hiked to the top of the Permian Reef Trail, which was long and steep. Excellent views of the canyon and mountains.

Permian Reef Trail and mountains

Permian Reef Trail

•Sunset near El Capitan

El Capitan and Guadalupe Peak

Day 4…

•Hiked one of Guadalupe’s more challenging hikes today, the Bear Canyon-Bowl-Tejas Trail loop, 10.2 miles in about six hours. The first half mile ascends 2500 feet in Bear Canyon. It was a great ending for a great trip.

On the Tejas Trail

Along the Tejas Trail

Ascending Bear Canyon

See the Sticks and Stones galleries at richardbarron.net HERE.