Carlsbad Caverns

As I mentionned before we did a detour from El Passo trough the high desert to get to Carlsbad, the reason was to visit the Caverns there.

Well worth the detour

In the past we have explored many caverns such as Lurray in Virginia, Mamouth Caves in Kentuky, Howes Caverns NY, Karshner Caverns in Arizona. The Carlsbad Caverns National Park are the top rated of all caverns in the US and the only ones I visited that are self guided with the use of a tripod permited.

I can see for miles...

But first to get there you need to drive up a 7 miles twisted mountain road with cliftside drops my wife's favorites :) but on the way down she got to see about 50 antelopes going trough the valley beside her. I didn't since I had to keep the eyes on the road and there was no place to stop.

Totem Pole or Rock of Ages

Once you got up the road you get to the welcome center from the height you are you can see for miles. In the visitor center we were sent back to change shoes since the ones we were wearng had been in other caves on the east coast and that so far their bats are not infected with the white nose fungus that is killing the bats on the east coast. That being done there is 2 ways that you can get 750 feet below the earth you can hike down a 2 miles steep trail trough the natural entrance or take an elevator that takes you 75 stories down and right into the caves. We took the elevator because we had time constraint we had to drive another 3 or 4 hours to get to our next stop after the visit..

A Cathedral Celling

There are many tours availables but we choose the Big Room Trail, it take one and a half  hour to go around, the size of it is very impressive, like entering a cathedral, the lighting is extremly well done and perfect for photography. Except for the loud Japanese tourists with flashlights everything is serene, the cavern is big enough to leave them behind while they take picture with flashes. After that it was a suprise at every turn and the best cavern pictures I ever took :)

Early Explorations

We left there and drove to Fort Stockton in Texas at the end of our drive ther was a duststorm, it made it interesting.

We are now in San Antonio, but that will be another story.