 In 1959, Pratt donated of his ranch to the National Park Service, and seven years later, on 15 October 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the act establishing Guadalupe Mountains National Park.On 30 September 1972, Guadalupe Mountains National Park was dedicated and formally opened to the public.Farther up the canyon, the path becomes quite steep as it begins to follow a series of switchbacks, climbing nearly over the next , eventually reaching "the Notch" at an altitude around .