| Submitted by: Evelyn C. Leeper United States |
| Submission Date: 14 February 2005 |
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First of all, the backing said, 'Save this calendar--you can use it again in 1986.' 1936 and 1986 were not the same. 1936 started on a Wednesday and was a leap year; 1986 started in a Wednesday, but was not a leap year. We suspect the backing was from 1958 (or later). (It also had a phone number for the store it was advertising--not really likely here in the 1930s.) There was also some Harrison Schmidt memorabilia and the ubiquitous moon rock. Does every museum have a moon rock? I did notice that the rock here was considerably smaller than the one in the Space Hall of Fame, though, so there does seem to be a hierarchy. (The one in the museum in the Dominican Republic was one of the smaller ones.)
The museum was smaller than we expected (though since it was free we could hardly complain, and for a small town like Roswell it was actually fairly impressive), so we were finished by 3:30 PM. Since it was somewhere around a hundred miles to Carlsbad, we decided we actually had a chance of making the bat flight. So we drove like (you'll pardon the expression) a bat out of hell down US 285 to Carlsbad. Naturally, since we were in a hurry, this was the stretch that had road construction, slow trucks, etc. And traffic--Carlsbad also slowed us down.
Carlsbad Caverns is not in Carlsbad, but about 24 miles past it (since we were coming from the north). 17 miles past Carlsbad is White's City, a cluster of shops, restaurants, and a motel 'at the entrance of the park.' True, but not at the entrance of the caverns--that is another 7 miles within the park boundaries. So we raced over this stretch, having the consolation that we could pause to enjoy the beautiful scenery on it tomorrow, and got to the cavern entrance about 5:30 PM. Luckily the path was well-marked and the bats were late. Apparently they've been coming out at somewhat erratic times lately. We listened to the remainder of the ranger's talk on bats until about 5:40 PM, when the bats started and she stopped.
So what are all these bats I keep talking about? They are several hundred thousand Mexican free-tail bats that live in Carlsbad Caverns (in a part where the tours don't go). In fact, they are how the caverns were discovered (or rather, rediscovered, since Indian drawings have been found on the walls)--people saw what looked like plumes of smoke at sunset in the summer. On closer investigation, they proved to be the bats, leaving the cave to search for food (insects) at night and return before dawn. For some reason they all leave at once, and so we watched as the hundreds of thousands of bats poured out of the cave for twenty minutes. And this was noticeably less than earlier in the season, according to the ranger--many of the bats had already left for their winter home in Mexico. Even so, it was a marvelous sight and if you're going to Carlsbad, try to get them early enough the day before to see this. (In the summer it's easier because it's later, because sunset is later. Call the Park; they can tell you when the ranger's talk starts.)
Oh, in case you didn't catch it in the previous paragraph, bats are our friends--they eat insects. This was a large part of the ranger's talk.
We returned to Carlsbad after sunset and moonrise, checked into the Motel 6, and asked where we could get good barbecue. At the Dairy Queen. The Dairy Queen? Yes, it appears that the owner of this Dairy Queen like barbecue, so expanded his branch to include it. It wasn't the best barbecue we'd ever had, but it was not bad. BBQ at the DQ--what's next?
Mileage today: 284 miles.
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We had breakfast at Jerry's, which I assume is a chain like Denny's and got an early start for the caverns. The caverns don't open until 8:30 AM, but there were several points of interest with descriptive plaques along the road in, and we wanted to stop at them before it got too hot, so we decided to do them on the way in (plus we had the time). One was a short trail leading to an Indian shelter under a rock ledge, another had a view of Walnut Canyon, and so on. They also gave us a chance to take some pictures of the beautiful cliffs without stopping on the road, which would not be very safe. (Many of the roads we traveled you could stop, back up, take pictures, etc., without worrying about traffic. This was not one of them.)
We got to the Visitors Center a little after 8:30 AM, bought our tickets, and rented our radio receivers. Although this is a national park, the caverns themselves are not covered by the Golden Eagle Passport--for some reason the $5 per person is a usage fee rather than an entrance fee. The radio receivers rent for fifty cents each and serve as your own personal tour guide. As you walk at your own pace, signs along the path tell you when to listen and the voice tells you about what you are seeing. There are also plaques along the way (so the hearing-impaired don't miss all the information).
Oh, yes, that brings up one more note: Carlsbad Caverns is wheelchairaccessible, at least for most of the Red Tour. There are two paths you can take. The Blue Tour enters through the natural entrance (where the bats fly out) and descends down 830 feet over a mile and a half of path (all incline rather than stairs, but at times a bit steep) and then climbs eighty feet of incline to a rest area. The Red Tour takes an elevator to the rest area. Then both tours travel on a mostly level path around the Big Room, with its fourteen acres of formations. There is one small section which is too steep for wheelchairs, but the rest is accessible. (These should probably be called the Red Path and the Blue Path--you don't have a guide, you're not in a group, and you can move at your own pace.)
But I'm getting ahead of myself. We walked to the natural entrance for the Blue Tour and started down about 9 AM. The first part was a switchback trail past the swallows' nests and as far as the entrance to the bat cave (yes, it's called the bat cave). Then the trail (all the trails are paved, by the way) veered to the right and descended through the 'twilight zone,' the last area where natural light can enter. Then we descended--always descended--through such areas as the Devil's Den, and past speleothems: rock formations with such fanciful names as the Devil's Spring or the Whale's Mouth. This is probably not for the claustrophobic, although the 'rooms' are vast (I believe the highest floor-to-ceiling measurement is 250 feet, and other than a few very short tunnels, the height above the trail was at least twenty or thirty feet and there was a lot of open area on one or both sides).
In addition to the well-known stalactites and stalagmites (and we all know which are which, right?), there were also veils and draperies, thin enough to be translucent, and enough fantastic shapes to keep you entranced the whole time.
The last part of the Blue Tour is through the 'Scenic Rooms': the King's Chamber, the Queen's Chamber, the Papoose Room, and the Green Lake Room. These are where parts of the 1959 JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH were filmed (primarily in the King's Chamber and Papoose Room, with part also in the Boneyard, an area where the rocks look like a jumble of bones-- or at least did to whoever named it). They still allow filming here, but JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH was the last movie they allowed to be filmed 'off-trail,' as it did too much damage (according to the ranger). I doubt the damage was intentional, but I suspect that they discovered that no matter how careful they were, the delicate formations and floor surface were not up to it. Anyway, if you can't get to the caverns, the movie will give you a glimpse. There are no giant mushrooms or underground ocean.
We got to the rest area about 10:30 AM. Here there is a souvenir stand (small), a stand selling film and such, and a lunch room selling beverages and box lunches--your choice is fried chicken or a ham and cheese sandwich. Vegetarians should pack their own, but seal it up, because they don't want food odors drifting through the cave attracting bats, so except for the lunchroom area, even gum-chewing is prohibited. We decided to rest our feet--and our senses--and have a soda. You get full value for your money here--there is no ice at all in the cup. I guess bringing ice or an ice machine down would be more work than they want and with the temperature at a constant 56 degrees Fahrenheit (13 degrees Celsius), no one misses the ice much. Bring a sweater for the first part, but the walking will probably warm you up to where you'll be carrying it rather than wearing it by the end.
After our rest, we walked around the Big Room where some of the best known formations are: the Hall of Giants, Fairyland, the Totem Pole, and so forth. There are also small pools of perfectly clear water that reflect what is above them so precisely that you feel you are looking into an underground cave. Well, okay, everything here is an underground cave, but I mean a cave below trail level. And it's all the more amazing when you realize that if the Empire State Building were set here, only the 84th to 102nd floors would be above ground.
The circumambulation of the Big Room took another hour and a half. It's not that the walk is hard, but there is so much to see, almost like a natural art museum. If all you could see was the Big Room, it would still be worth it, but take the Blue Tour if at all possible for the full experience. And rent the receivers.
We returned to the surface via elevator, as do all visitors. This would make a great setting for a disaster movie: the power and elevators fail and a group has to make their way back up on foot in the dark. Except there's enough backup systems that this wouldn't happen. And it's very stable geologically. When the atomic bomb was exploded at Alamogordo, it wasn't even detectable in the caverns. But until the elevators were installed in 1931, visitors did have to climb back up, and a small section of the wooden stairs they used remains. I'm sure there were fewer tourists then, although coming as we did on a weekday during the school year, the caverns certainly didn't seem crowded. I suspect in the summer it's different.
After we sent off our post cards, made our hotel reservations, etc., we left the Visitors Center and took the nine-and-a-half-mile scenic drive. It was scenic, all right, but probably no more so than the road in or a lot of other roads, and since it was unpaved and narrow I'd say most people could skip it with no great loss. We did see a mule deer there, but we saw more of those later as well.
We stopped at White's City to pick up cheese and crackers. There is no place to eat between the Caverns and El Paso along US 62/US 180, except for a few roadside restaurants which seemed to be mostly closed. We entered Texas and drove through the Guadalupe Mountains and the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, but didn't stop, as this park is primarily hiking trails. We did stop at the Butterfield Stage Piney Station, but there wasn't really anything to see except the marker.
The land got flatter and drier and we passed from forests to scrub desert, with occasional salt flats. Outside El Paso, the wind picked up and we drove through a minor dust storm.
El Paso did not impress us. The parts we drove through looked pretty yucky--stores, car lots, businesses, all old and run-down looking. We got to our motel, checked in, and discovered that State Line BBQ was very close by. Since this was recommended by a couple of people, we decided to go for it. (By the way, it's called State Line because it's just across the state line into New Mexico.) I'm not a good judge of barbecue, but Mark says State Line was very good.
Mileage today: 203 miles. |
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