Las Cruces is near the epicenter of three national parks and a couple of other attractions I wanted to see. Once I had resolved the car issues and felt comfortable driving again, I set out on my first trip without my RV.
I first headed back into Texas to El Paso and then went north to Guadalupe Mountain National Park. Guadalupe Mountain has its own version of El Capitan. The mountain towers over the rest and was clearly named because it dominates the skyline. The terrain is barren and increasingly elevated as you make your way through the park towards Carlsbad, New Mexico, where Carlsbad Caverns National Park is located.
Many of you who have known me for a while know that walking and hiking have been a challenge at times. Now, however, I have found a handy-dandy stool to assist with that. Upon arrival at Carlsbad Caverns, I put on my camera, threw my stool on my back, and off I went.
There’s an interesting story about the evolution of the entrances to the cavern. When they first built the elevator shaft, they didn’t protect the cave air from the outside air. Then, they started to see deterioration and mold in the cave. They determined that outside air was bringing bacteria into the otherwise protected cave! The caverns are visited by about 400,000 people per year, and the air from entrances was contaminating the cave. So, they built a series of airlocks at the top and at the bottom. They also changed out the lighting system in the cave, creating an area that does much of the decontamination as visitors leave the elevator.
After descending 750 feet, I was first awed by the sheer size of the main chamber. Where some caves have a meandering, flowing, almost river-like approach to the cave pattern, this has one very large chamber, which is the largest in the U.S. and the 32nd largest in the world. This cave system is an UNESCO World Heritage site. The sheer size of the Cavern makes it an awe-inspiring sight.
I think it was on my first visit Mammoth Cave, when I was in elementary school, that I learned how to remember the difference between stalagmites and stalactites. A stalactite holds tight to the ceiling, and a stalagmite rises mightily from the ground. There were plenty of both to see here, as well as columns, where some had grown together. Unique formations are often given cute or interesting names such as those shown in the picture below. There was one that didn’t have a name, but which I immediately recognized as Bugs Bunny. I mentioned it to a park ranger who laughed and said I wasn’t the first to come up with that name. However, no one had officially named it that yet, fearing copyright issues.
I had thoroughly explored all of Carlsbad Caverns that I could manage. I was grateful that I had forced myself to take my time to see all that I could see while I was there.