[silly_traveler]

CAUTION - LONG REPORT and only partially hiking related!!! Rachel and I went on the Inside Passage Alaska Cruise last year and had a good time, so we decided to go on another trip together this year. After thinking about it for a while, we decided on Carlsbad Caverns NP. I've never been inside a cave, and this was a great first experience. We flew into El Paso and rented a car to get to Carlsbad. There are a couple of places worth stopping along the way - Hueco Tanks State Historic Site (which we found out about too late to visit) and Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Besides the two national parks, we also visited White Sands National Monument, Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument, and City of Rocks State Park. Carlsbad Caverns is a fascinating place, I'm not sure how to begin to describe it. It gave me the biggest WOW factor of all the places I've seen this year. I took some pictures, but they don't do the caves justice, you just can't get the feel of how big and beautiful this place really is from my pictures We started our visit with the Big Room (self-guided), and what an appropriate name it is BIG - 14 football fields and then three ranger-guided tours - King's Palace, Lower Cave, and Left Hand Tunnel. The Big Room and King's Palace are lit, but are still fairly dark, and all the other tours are caves at their natural state we used headlamps, flashlights, and/or lanterns to help us see.

road to Caverns

BR

BR

BR

BR

BR

BR

BR

BR

King's Palace

King's Palace Tour

King's Palace

King's Palace Tour

Lower Cave - this one we had to use rope and ladders it was action packed and really fun

LC

cave pearls

coming out of Lower Cave

Left Hand Tunnel - lantern tour

Left Hand Tunnel Tour

Left Hand Tunnel Tour

Left Hand Tunnel Tour

A must-see event at Carlsbad Caverns is the Bat Flight Program at dusk. A butt load of bats fly out of the natural entrance of the cave at dusk. And I really mean a butt load we watched bats coming out of the cave for 50 minutes straight, and when we left they weren't even close to being done Cameras and other electronic devices aren't allowed at the Bat Flight Program We stayed at this place in Carlsbad while we were visiting the caves. And good places to eat - Danny's BBQ and Lucy's Mexicana both are on the main street that runs across town.

motel in Carlsbad

In between the cave tours we spent a day at Guadalupe Mountains National Park and did a short hike up McKittrick Canyon to The Grotto and Hunter Cabin - 6.8 miles RT and practically flat

sign

view along the way

McKittrick Canyon

McKittrick Canyon

interesting plant

Fall colors

The Grotto

Hunter Cabin

After bumming around the caves for a few days we headed north and then west (making a loop) to Alamogordo to see White Sands National Monument. Along the way we drove through the town of Cloudcroft - elevation 8663 ft. and looks like it would be a nice place for a hike We arrived at White Sands in the afternoon and looked around a bit on our own and joined the ranger for a sunset stroll at 5:30pm.

moon over White Sands

sunset

having fun

Next morning we did a short loop hike - Alkali Flat Trail - 4.6 miles up and down on sand dunes

sign

trail sign

trail

Alkali Trail

Rachel at a distance

Rachel - queen of the Sands

We didn't plan on visiting the Gila Cliff Dwellings, didn't even know about it until we were on the trip. This place is far from everything and took a while to get there on a really twisty and windy road but worth all the driving The Gila Wilderness is really beautiful, would like to do some hiking around this area in the future

view along the way

Gila Cliff Dwellings

lizard

view from window

trail

Gila Wilderness

We went up one highway to get to the Cliff Dwellings and came down another to get back to civilization, making a nice loop drive. On the way back down, we stopped by City of Rocks State Park

sign

lots of rocks

picnic and camp site

view from road

grasshopper

nice looking cactus

view along the way

I love rocks

the chicken dance

Captain Morgan

Rachel

looking back at City of Rocks

view along the way

Weather is great this time of year in southern New Mexico - sunny, in the 80s and a bit breezy I've been dreaming about caves ever since we left Carlsbad.... might have to get my butt to Mammoth Cave next Fall

[Karen²]

Cool stuff. You have some neat photos, I know caves can be difficult to photograph. White Sands looks awesome too!

[Tazz]

sweet! You brought back some good memories for me. One of my fav places is white sands NM. It is pretty cool. We watched the bats too. So cool it is down to the minute that they come out and keep coming and keep coming! so cool! Thanks!

[Don]

Wow - what a fun trip! I love the images from the King's Palace and the Big Room. I can definitely see some WOW factor there!

[David¹]

Mondo cool - Love road trips!

[GeoTom]

I almost didn't recognize you without your gaiters on

[The Angry Hiker]

Good to hear that the bats are back. I was there about 20 years ago and the bat colony was so depleted that only a few scrawny ones flew out.

[Tazz]

maybe it was your "angry" persona that they felt and where too scared to come out!

[the Zachster]

Great road trip! I was just out there 2 weeks and we debated about visiting the Caverns and Guadalupe...everything is just so far away from everything else. I'll just have to go back! By the way, I think you did good with your cavern photos...what a challenge!

[captain jack]

the chicken dance

Just when I thought you were finally overcoming your dorkiness.

[silly_traveler]

Thanks for the comments

[bobbi]

silly_t, what a fun trip! i want to go next time.....mammoth caves.

[touron]

Nice pictures! I took a whole roll of film at Carlsbad, and my best picture looked like the Angry Hiker's photos of the inside of the Snoqualmie Tunnel.

[silly_traveler]

[Curtissimo]

i loved carlsbad canyon i think it is perhaps the greatest cave on earth. one thing that really got me mad there and was a texbook case of government inefficiency: they have 4 elevators 2 elevators would do the job to move the people they use 2 elevators only for freight even though they have many people working, only 1 elevator was moving people because the elevators require "trained operators" ergo, after walking down there into a claustrophobic area, i had to fight and push old women and small children to get back up the lessons: 1) government spends twice as much to do a job as it should 2) even so it only does half the work it should do