Top Mountains in Texas

Texas is mostly flat to rolling plains, but West Texas contains the Guadalupe Mountains and the Trans-Pecos ranges — genuine high-country terrain that surprises visitors expecting only desert.

Guadalupe Peak (8,751 ft)
The highest point in Texas, located in Guadalupe Mountains National Park near the New Mexico border. The 8.4-mile round-trip summit trail gains 3,000 feet and is strenuous. From the summit, the Chihuahuan Desert spreads to the horizon in every direction — it's a genuinely remote and dramatic landscape. A bronze pyramid summit marker commemorates an 1858 Butterfield Overland Mail route nearby.

El Capitan (8,085 ft)
Part of the Guadalupe escarpment, El Capitan's sheer limestone face towers 1,000 feet above the desert floor and is visible for 100 miles. It's not the same as Yosemite's El Capitan — but early travelers named both "El Capitan" (the captain) for similar reasons: both are commanding vertical faces. The view from the highway below is one of the most dramatic in Texas.

Emory Peak (7,825 ft)
The highest point in Big Bend National Park and the most climbed high point in the Chisos Mountains. The 10.5-mile round-trip trail passes through pine and oak forest at elevation — a lush surprise within the Chihuahuan Desert. From the summit, the Chisos basin, the Rio Grande, and the Sierra del Carmen mountains in Mexico are visible.

Mount Livermore (8,378 ft)
Located in the Davis Mountains northwest of Big Bend, Mount Livermore is the second-highest peak in Texas. Access is restricted through the Nature Conservancy's Davis Mountains Preserve — guided hikes are offered periodically. The Davis Mountains are the most extensive mountain range in Texas and receive enough moisture to support forests of ponderosa pine.

Chinati Peak (7,728 ft)
In the Chinati Mountains northeast of Presidio, this remote peak overlooks the Rio Grande borderlands. The surrounding Chinati Mountains State Natural Area is one of the most remote public lands in Texas.