Guadalupe Mountains National Park rarely comes up when I discuss national parks with fellow travelers or outdoor enthusiasts.

This desert landscape with mountains, canyons, and the world's most extensive Permian fossil reef was once a thriving sea.

The Permian Reef was once home to a thriving sea of marine life, including sponges, algae, clams, corals, trilobites and sea urchins. The 8.4-mile Permian Reef Trail in McKittrick Canyon offers ...

But Midland is home to the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum. And there I could see a diorama of the reef as it looked when it was alive. The first part of the drive took me southeast along the ...