Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Our calculations were a little bit off when figuring how long it would take to drive from Artesia to Carlsbad Caverns. Instead of 30 minutes it took us a whopping 1 hour and 20 minutes. The 10:30 tour we signed up for months ago was long gone, but the ranger was able to move us to a Noon time slot. (A lesson in staying closer to, or in National Parks.)
The ride from Artesia is interesting only in that it is so very flat and to our eyes, ugly. Most vehicles on the road were fast moving pick-up trucks. On the border with Texas you can see oil derricks littering the desert with some low set mountains in the distance. The desert we had traveled through is called Chihuahua and the mountains the Guadalupe’s. The mountains are apparently filled with caves and caverns.
By the way, there is a difference between a cave and a cavern. A cave is simply any cavity in the ground that is large enough that some part of it doesn’t receive direct sunlight. A cavern on the other hand is a specific type of cave. Inside a cavern one finds naturally formed insoluble rock with the capability of growing speleothems, which are formations such as stalagmites (rock formations from ground up) and stalactites (rock formations from ceiling down).
The tour we signed up for was called Kings Palace and lasted about 1-1/2 hours. We then took the self-guiding tour through other areas of the caverns that took us about 2 hours. The caverns were absolutely incredible. The Big Room was 14 football fields long and large enough to fit the US Capitol building inside it two times. Carlsbad Caverns had the usual stalagmites, stalactites, cave pearls, soda straws, popcorn, drapery formations, columns, etc., but many of them were gigantic. Walking inside the Caverns felt as if we were walking in some alien landscape. Dan and I have seen a lot of caves/caverns over the years, but we’ve never seen anything like this before. This is by far the most spectacular cavern we have ever seen. The Cavern temperatures were a pleasant 56 degrees vs a blasting hot 102 plus degrees outside.
We’ve tended to arrive at most of our destinations not knowing all that much about them despite the fact we’ve purchased numerous books and googled almost everything at least once. We had no idea that one major activity at Carlsbad was to wait until dusk to watch the Brazilian Free-tailed bats leave their bat cave. They migrate up from Mexico and South America and spend summers in New Mexico. At least 7 species of bats roost at Carlsbad, but only the Brazilian Free-tailed bats leave at the same time every evening to feed, mostly on moths. We ended up spending several hours hanging around the visitor center until the bat program began at 7:45 PM. (The air conditioning had broken down in the cafeteria area and gift shop; so, we just sat around in other parts of the building; museum, book shop and theater. For dinner we split a dry turkey sandwich, all that was left in the cafeteria before it too closed due to lack of air conditioning.) It was far too hot for us to take any of the nature hikes, and we didn’t feel like taking any driving tours of the area. We are spoiled and knew we had already seen much more beautiful areas. So, we just sat and relaxed.
Of course, the ranger told us about the importance of bats for pollination and insect control, and how their numbers are threatened due to insecticides, loss of habitat, etc. The number of bats flying from the cave was impressive, but sadly nothing like the swarms shown in photos. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to use any electronic devices because it would frighten off the bats, so we have no pictures. After about 45 minutes or so we left and made our back to Artesia traveling at 70 mph plus in the pitch dark, which was rather scary.
For the record, if you ever visit Carlsbad Caverns, and we recommend that you do, stay in Carlsbad. It is an easy 30-minute ride to the Caverns from there. Just like everywhere else we traveled the tours sell out a year in advance in many cases, so book early if you can. Tomorrow we are off to Pecos, Texas for a rodeo.
BY THE WAY WITH WENDY & DAN 