Caves: Past and Present

---

Our primary destination for today was Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeastern New Mexico. It’s on our list (National Park Service parks, monuments and memorials), we’ve never been and, of course, it was supposed to be really interesting. We decided to do both the Natural Entrance and Big Room self-guided tours. The boys were, aside from an occasional brief melt-down by Cole, phenomenal. A NPS ranger was very impressed that both boys were still looking energetic near the end of the tour. They had fun; we had fun and many of the photos turned out, too. Have I ever mentioned how much I love our new camera?

Liam tells me that his favorite part of the cave was the popcorn on the ceiling and the lion’s tail. His other favorite part was the bat cave. He has talked about little else besides bats since we left. He even picked out a stuffed bat that now rides with him in the car seat. We really should have stuck around for the bat flight, but I’m not sure how either boy would’ve done since the amphitheater is surprisingly close to the entrance/exit. Cole’s favorite part, by the way, was the mountains (stalagmites) inside the caves. Jeff says the immensity was impressive. He specifically points out that Iceberg Rock is a really big rock. I was fond of the Painted Grotto and the fact that my boys did really well. I also was happy to get 2 miles worth of walking in without really noticing it.

In retrospect, Jeff and I have done a lot of cave tours. We have yet to do Oregon Caves National Monument, but have to wait until the boys are both 42” tall or more. At the rate Liam’s growing, that won’t be for a long time.

Our first cave was Wind Cave National Park near Rapid City, South Dakota in November 2002. It was a far different experience—ranger guided, much smaller, only fourteen good or reasonable pictures. Wind Cave is known for its boxwork, though, which was pretty cool. We haven’t seen it anywhere else.

Our second cave was Jewel Cave National Monument, also in the Black Hills in November 2002. It is so named because of calcite crystals and is the second longest cave in the world.

In September 2004, we went to Ruby Falls outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee, with Liam and my parents. Liam (all of 2 months old) was not terribly impressed. If I remember correctly, he slept through the whole thing. It was also very commercial—colored lights, maybe even music.

In July 2005, we visited Cave of the Mounds in southern Wisconsin. Unfortunately, this was the least fun cave tour we’ve done. I’m sure the same is true for the rest of the poor people on our tour, since Liam fussed and screamed for much of the tour. He and I stood as far away from other people as possible while Jeff listened and took some photos. I think it was that trip that led us to believe self-guided is better.

In June 2006, we went to Mammoth Cave National Park. We even stayed at their hotel, which was a first. Unfortunately, with our previous experience with tours, we decided to stick to the self-guided tour which didn’t cover much of the cave at all.

We stopped by Russell Cave National Monument in northern Alabama in February 2007. I hesitate to even call it a cave aside from the fact that it’s in the name. It was not much bigger than many of the cliff dwellings we’ve seen, except it was at ground level.

My favorite cave prior to Carlsbad, by leaps and bounds, was Timpanogos Cave in northern Utah. We visited there in October 2008, either the last day of their season or the day before. There were a couple reasons this is memorable. First, we successfully walked the one and a half miles up the mountain to get to the cave entrance (and then down again after the tour). Second, we were the only people on the tour. Third, our guide was great. He answered all our questions, let Jeff stop and take pictures wherever he wanted. He also turned off the lights to shine a laser on my ring. I thought the sparkles all over were cool, but the boys were not okay with the darkness. Timpanogos also has a special kind of formation that grows against gravity--helicites.

We would definitely go back to both Timpanogos and Carlsbad. Trust me. If you’re ever in northern Utah (and feel up to walking a mile and a half up hill, climbing 1160 feet in eleavtion) go to Timpanogos. If you’re ever in southern New Mexico or west Texas, go to Carlsbad Caverns. They are both well worth the drive. Heck, they’re well worth the drive from Minnesota.

---

Photos

Carlsbad Caverns Nat'l Park
Whale's Mouth formation

Comments

[Alyssa]

cave of the mounds
wow! looks like a fun place to go to maybe i'll go there over spring break!