Guadalupe Mountains National Park in far West Texas preserves eighty-six thousand three hundred sixty-seven acres of a range shaped from the ancient Capitán Reef, including Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas, and El Capitan, long a landmark in the Chihuahuan Desert. People lived in and around these mountains for more than ten thousand years, followed by Spanish entry, Mescalero Apache use and occupation, stage travel, military removal, and ranching. Land donated by Wallace Pratt helped create the park, which opened in 1972 and later gained a large wilderness area. Its desert, canyon, and high-forest habitats sustain exceptional scenic, geologic, and biological diversity.