The peak can be climbed at any time of the year by a maintained stony trail (4.25 miles or 6.8 kilometers each way) with a 3,000-foot (910 m) elevation gain.

It was erected by American Airlines in 1958 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Butterfield Overland Mail, a stagecoach route that passed south of the mountain.

Postal Service tribute to the Pony Express Riders of the Butterfield Stage.

[6][7][8] "At nearly 9,000 feet (2,700 m) above sea level, Guadalupe Peak is a mountain environment with associated risks not found elsewhere in Texas," the park said, noting that the hike is a "very strenuous, 8.4-mile (13.5 km) round trip hike with a 3,000-foot (910 m) elevation gain" to the highest point in the state.

Guadalupe Peak has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb).