We left Albuquerque on October 14 headed towards Roswell, New Mexico for a layover on our way to Carlsbad Caverns. Our intention was to stay over one night in Roswell, tour the UFO museum, and arrive in Carlsbad the following day. As it turned out, we had an issue with our truck and had to stay two nights in Roswell. That was okay; the RV Park we stayed in was very nice and we took the extra day to tour Roswell on our bicycles. We actually didn’t visit the UFO museum in the end, as it just didn’t seem that intriguing to either one of us. Although all the shops in downtown Roswell took advantage of their UFO heritage to try to lure people in, we didn’t have any close encounters. At least, we don’t think we did, but there are a few hours missing from our memories that neither one of us can account for. Hmmmm… ;-)
We arrived in Carlsbad on Tuesday, October 16th. We stayed in White’s City RV Park just yards outside of the Carlsbad Caverns National Park entrance. The RV Park has definitely seen better days, but it had what we needed for a couple of nights, and it put us in close proximity to the Caverns. The first afternoon we drove to the Visitor’s Center and got the information we needed to decide what tours we would be taking the next couple of days. The tours ranged from very, very easy paved road tours with (minimal) lighting to the adventure tours that required negotiating slippery slopes with knotted ropes and ladders and squeezing through tight spaces with the only light provided by your helmets. We decided we would take both of the easy self-guided tours and three progressively difficult guided tours over the next two days. We also stayed long enough one evening to watch the flight of over 1 million Mexican Free-tailed bats as they exited the cave for their nightly foraging. That was spectacular! The bats flew out of the cave shown in the attached picture with the long winding path. We were not allowed to take photographs of their flight, so this picture was taken early in the day. This is called the Natural Entrance and is the point of the very first exploration into the caverns by Jim White in 1898.
The self-guided tours are intended to be handled on your own, and as expected, they were like a walk in the park, albeit an underground park! The sights were spectacular! The lighting is very, very low, I presume to preserve the formations as much as possible in their original states, and to give one as close an idea as possible of how the caves appear in their natural setting. Following these two tours came the first guided tour which took us off the beaten path, but still on paved trails, still minimally lit, and led by a Ranger who gave us a lot of history of the caves and early exploration. The second guided tour was a little more adventurous – off the paved paths, illuminated only by candle lanterns that each of us carried, and every once in a while, some uneven or wet and slippery spots. Now, the third guided tour was the most adventurous, and it’s a good thing we worked up to this one. As it was, I almost didn’t go down, but at the last minute I just threw caution to the wind and took the plunge. Dan had no fear. Funny, there were 6 men and 3 women on this tour, and none of the men had any concerns, and all of the women were nervous. Especially me, I was the most nervous! The hike started out with a 10 foot descent down a wet and slippery slope using a knotted rope to guide yourself down. Following the rope descent, there were three stainless steel ladders taking you down another 50 feet to complete darkness. Our only means of illumination were the helmets we were wearing. But when we finally got to the bottom of the cave and began our hike, it was well worth it! Such beautiful formations, very hard to describe, and even the pictures can’t do it justice. I have never explored caves before, and am not sure I will do so to any extent in the future, but I am extremely happy I had this opportunity, and that I was able to overcome my fear and take the final tour – not even the most adventurous of what is offered.
In each of our guided tours we were able to experience what it was like to be in the total darkness of a cave over 800 feet below ground by having everyone extinguish their lights and sit in the complete blackness of an underground cave. Now that is dark!! You literally cannot even see your hand in front of your face. It’s amazing how much a small butane lighter will illuminate these places, as our guides demonstrated. Each time we returned to the surface, I was relieved!
Next Stop: Austin, Texas!
We arrived in Carlsbad on Tuesday, October 16th. We stayed in White’s City RV Park just yards outside of the Carlsbad Caverns National Park entrance. The RV Park has definitely seen better days, but it had what we needed for a couple of nights, and it put us in close proximity to the Caverns. The first afternoon we drove to the Visitor’s Center and got the information we needed to decide what tours we would be taking the next couple of days. The tours ranged from very, very easy paved road tours with (minimal) lighting to the adventure tours that required negotiating slippery slopes with knotted ropes and ladders and squeezing through tight spaces with the only light provided by your helmets. We decided we would take both of the easy self-guided tours and three progressively difficult guided tours over the next two days. We also stayed long enough one evening to watch the flight of over 1 million Mexican Free-tailed bats as they exited the cave for their nightly foraging. That was spectacular! The bats flew out of the cave shown in the attached picture with the long winding path. We were not allowed to take photographs of their flight, so this picture was taken early in the day. This is called the Natural Entrance and is the point of the very first exploration into the caverns by Jim White in 1898.
The self-guided tours are intended to be handled on your own, and as expected, they were like a walk in the park, albeit an underground park! The sights were spectacular! The lighting is very, very low, I presume to preserve the formations as much as possible in their original states, and to give one as close an idea as possible of how the caves appear in their natural setting. Following these two tours came the first guided tour which took us off the beaten path, but still on paved trails, still minimally lit, and led by a Ranger who gave us a lot of history of the caves and early exploration. The second guided tour was a little more adventurous – off the paved paths, illuminated only by candle lanterns that each of us carried, and every once in a while, some uneven or wet and slippery spots. Now, the third guided tour was the most adventurous, and it’s a good thing we worked up to this one. As it was, I almost didn’t go down, but at the last minute I just threw caution to the wind and took the plunge. Dan had no fear. Funny, there were 6 men and 3 women on this tour, and none of the men had any concerns, and all of the women were nervous. Especially me, I was the most nervous! The hike started out with a 10 foot descent down a wet and slippery slope using a knotted rope to guide yourself down. Following the rope descent, there were three stainless steel ladders taking you down another 50 feet to complete darkness. Our only means of illumination were the helmets we were wearing. But when we finally got to the bottom of the cave and began our hike, it was well worth it! Such beautiful formations, very hard to describe, and even the pictures can’t do it justice. I have never explored caves before, and am not sure I will do so to any extent in the future, but I am extremely happy I had this opportunity, and that I was able to overcome my fear and take the final tour – not even the most adventurous of what is offered.
In each of our guided tours we were able to experience what it was like to be in the total darkness of a cave over 800 feet below ground by having everyone extinguish their lights and sit in the complete blackness of an underground cave. Now that is dark!! You literally cannot even see your hand in front of your face. It’s amazing how much a small butane lighter will illuminate these places, as our guides demonstrated. Each time we returned to the surface, I was relieved!
Next Stop: Austin, Texas!
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