Carlsbad Caverns

Monday Morning we woke up and got on the road about 10 am. As we left San Antonio, west texas in all of it’s expansive glory greeted us. Oil pumps, vast emptiness and an 80 mph speed limit. We added 4 mph to that and set cruise at 84 but still got pulled over. The trooper looked at the rig and asked if we were moving. He gave us a warning and we moved on. We got to Carlsbad and dropped dee off at a kennel in town. Then we drove to the national park to see what we were in for on the ranger guided tour we had signed up for on Tuesday afternoon. Some of the ranger guided tours require knee-pads, multiple sources of light, grippy gloves, etc. Ours required a ½ mile hike up a desert mountain at noon and a source of light. So Monday night we drove around the park and then went back and set up camp in the middle of nowhere. Sky was clear and the stars were as clear as I’ve ever seen.

At this campsite, we saw deer, peccary, raccoon, skunk and our neighbor claims to have seen two tarantula. I asked the ranger the next day about the possibility of seeing tarantula (I didn’t trust the original source). She said yes but their numbers were down because the tarantula hawks that catch the males and then lay their eggs on them so their young can feed on their live, paralyzed bodies have not been as active.

On Weds, we went into the main Carlsbad cavern to do the ~3 hour self-guided tour. The mountains around the ‘natural entrance’ are not that impressive but when you get to the entrance it is clear. We were there at 8:30 when the park opened so there were only 10 or so other folks walking through with us for the most part. We walked through the amphitheater where the nightly ‘bat-flight’ can be observed and then walked down a series of switchbacks into the cave mouth. The 100 degree day gave way to the 60 degr

ee temperature inside the cave and the natural light of the entrance was swallowed by the cave. The route is

paved and well marked. The cave is very dimly lit to expose the depths of the corners and ceilings. The cave is massive. The trail snaked through rooms and down ~1,000 feet before we got to the great room. Along the way, it is clear that you’ve entered another world.

Off the great room is a mini-cafeteria, a gift shop and a couple of nice clean shit-houses. This seemed to me a show of US force along the lines of going to the moon.

From the great room another 1.5 mile trail winds through another portion of the cave. Around each dip and turn there are additional formations, pits, domed ceilings, and cave pools that are mesmerizing. As to be expected, light isn’t great for pictures, but a few are attached. Without much in the line of expectations, we were both blown away.

We took the elevator out of the cavern (theymade us otherwise we’d have walked out). Then we had a 20 minute drive to Slaughter Canyon. This was to meet the ranger at the mouth of the Slaughter Canyon Cave which is the only guided tour away from the primary Carlsbad Cavern (there are an additional 114 identified caves in the park but most are off-limits). From the parking lot at Slaughter Canyon to the cave entrance was a ½ mile hike up the side of a mountain. Our tour started at 1 pm so this meant climbing in the noonday new mexico sun.

It was a chore. Our group was small (8) and we got prepped to go into the cave. It is notably different than the cave we spent the morning in because there is no artificial light or electricity in the cave. It is an abandoned guano mine that is not as impressive as the primary cave. We had to do a little bit of scrambling and it was an intimate group. Unfortunately the guide was king of an asshole. She yelled at Christine to spit out her gum and then barked at us as if we were a class of third-graders.

About an hour into the tour, the guides had us sit down and turn off our headlamps. It was dark. As intimidating as the darkness of the cave was, there is some solace in the blunt fact that nothing other than bats, crickets and a few spiders are in the caves. So the darkness is a void of light and therefore life so you know there is nothing to eat you but your imagination.

We got back to our camp and ate dinner and then went back to the visitor center at sunset to watch the estimated 2 million Mexican free-tail bats emerge from the bowels of the cavern. The swarm started slowly then picked up and kept up like a reverse tornado for about 15 minutes. After getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, we both hoped each bat would exact some revenge. Then we went to sleep.