Carlsbad, NM - Carlsbad Caverns National Park, Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Don and I took a road trip to see the the Texas national parks…Big Bend and Guadalupe NPs. I know that Carlsbad Caverns is actually in New Mexico, but they can’t help it, so we visited that park, as well. They were all three within a few hours drive.
Compared to some of our road trips, this one was relatively short. We drove through West Texas which has changed a lot since the last time we were here. The highways were crowded with oil rigging trucks, drilling sites, and lots of RV parks / mobile homes for the workers. “Drill Baby Drill”! We relaxed after the drive with Mexican food and margaritas. Tomorrow morning we hit the caverns.
Don and I both visited the caverns as children but neither of us remembered how beautiful they were. The caverns are huge and so nicely maintained with pathways and lighting that really highlights all the geologic features like stalagmites, stalactites, columns, pillars, drapery, straws, etc. The bats are not currently in residence but will be back in April.
The caverns go 1000 feet below the opening, but we were only allowed to go down 800 feet. Even with this descent, the caverns are still 2000 above sea level at the lowest point. We eventually got low enough that no natural light could be seen.
We saw these two pillar formations on the self-guided tour which ended at the largest cavern room in North America, The Big Room.
This is a good example of a formation called drapery. The limestone deposits follow the angle of the above rock and creates a thin sheet. They placed lighting behind to highlight how sheer it is.
We also took a Ranger Guided tour of the Kings Palace Room. He told us how the caverns were discovered by a 16 year-old boy in the late 1800’s. This boy, James White, grew up to become the superintendent for the national park which he loved. During this tour, the ranger turned off all the lights so that we could share the experience that James White had.
This wild formation looked like jelly fish to us.
Just 30 miles down the road from Carlsbad Caverns NP is Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This NP is unusual. It is a wilderness park which means it has very few of the “amenities” that most NPs have. Very few camping facilities, no scenic drives, a very small visitors center, etc. We were a little disappointed, but we checked this off our list. Below is a photo of El Capitan, the main landmark of this NP.
