Pinery Trail

Pinery Trail is a 0.75-mile paved out-and-back from Pine Springs Visitor Center to the remains of Pinery Station. Allow 20 to 30 minutes for this easy, wheelchair-accessible walk through open desert brush. Plant labels and benches make it a pleasant nature stop on the way to the stone ruins. Leashed pets are allowed on this trail, and a park entrance fee applies.

For the distance above, begin behind the Pine Springs Visitor Center and follow the paved path toward the station. The short route crosses low desert scrub with the Guadalupe Mountains opening up beside it. The trailhead sign shown here reads 0.67 miles round trip, while the current route listing and mapped paved corridor support 0.75 miles; plan for the longer figure. The ruins can also be reached from a separate Butterfield pull-off on US 62/180, but that is a different starting access.

The destination is a small set of surviving stone walls, not a restored building. Stay off the fragile masonry; climbing can damage it. From the paved edge, the walls make a good foreground for the rugged mountain ridge. The visitor center has accessible parking, restrooms and drinking fountains; food along this short walk was not verified.

Built in 1858, Pinery Station served the Butterfield Overland Mail, a roughly 2,800-mile route between St. Louis and San Francisco. Coaches made biweekly runs, averaging about 120 miles a day. Waterman L. Ormsby, the only through passenger on the first westbound stage, passed through in September 1858. The station was named for nearby pine forests; its limestone and adobe walls were about 30 inches thick and 11 feet high. The Guadalupe route was abandoned in August 1859, after only 11 months of use.