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Published: March 18th 2008
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Posted by Onaxthiel: We had a pretty good night out in the Carlsbad Wilderness. The sleep was pretty good and the animals were not as active as some nights we have been in the back country. I had instructed Obfuscator to shake out his boots in the morning, for snakes or scorpions. He had never heard of this precaution before, which somewhat surprised me. Neither of us found anything this morning, which was fine by me. Hiking out was mostly downhill on a dry riverbed. The river stones made a pretty good base for the hike, and we only had a few detours where we had to move out of large holes left by extinct cataracts. Towards the end of the second mile we saw a herd of mountain goats observing us from the hills above. Their curiosity in us seemed about as strong as ours in them, that is to say enough to watch from a distance but not to close with them for a closer introduction. The last half mile of the hike out of Rattlesnake Canyon was the hardest part. Instead of going with the gentle slope of riverbed as we had for the first hour or so,
we now had to go up the sides of the canyon we had been getting deeper and deeper into. This was also where we encountered the only other set of hikers we saw in our stay, a group of lady hikers ranging in age from mid twenties to mid sixties. They make up a New Mexican hiking club that heads all over the region once a week to try out new trails. Once we were at the top, Obfuscator realized he had dropped his sunglasses somewhere back on the trail, and we had our first actual use for the two way radios since we started the trip. I stayed with the gear and checked the upper part of the trail, while Obfuscator went back down the route to look for the missing frames. He did eventually find them, and we drove on to the caverns for which Carlsbad is known.
A word of advice about visiting Carlsbad Cavern: don't do it on a weekend. The line on Sunday morning was wrapped down the ramp to their impromptu trailer park visitor center and then ran for quite a ways past. It didn't really take too long to make it through
the line all things considered, so I guess I am glad Obfuscator made me stand in it rather than drive on. Particularly since the Inter-Agency pass we have been using since the early days of the drive got both of us in for free. I opted to rent an audio tour of the caverns as well, since we would be on a self guided walk rather than a tour with a ranger. It took about an hour to secure all the tickets and pick up the truncheon shaped audio wand. Perhaps things would run better if the NPS were in their regular building rather than the temporary mobile homes they currently occupy. Mostly I think it was just the weekend traffic, though. I won't bore anyone with the description of three miles or so of trails that you cover in Carlsbad. Suffice to say that there are some very impressive views in the underworld. This is both in the minerals and designs of the caverns, and also the sheer size of the place. Without the parks lights, it would be impossible to see the spans of the entire canyon, even with fairly powerful flashlights. There are a few places to
try for long exposure shots with a tripod, if you happen to be Obfuscator. This cost us about an hour in walking through the cave, but I don't think it was a bad trade....we will know for sure when the pictures get loaded. I'm not sure how the long lines of people that had to flow around us like a river around rocks liked our photo stops though. Oh well.
Like many national parks, Carlsbad Caverns never misses an opportunity to blame it's visitors for problems. Twice on the audio tour there are comments about how in 2000 a pile of boulders fell from a wall and buried part of the path. They state that “...this was most likely caused by a visitor that went off the path and knocked a rock loose,” even though the rock slide occurred after hours when the place was closed down, and by their own admission and the evidence of the cavern, rock slides have occurred naturally for thousands upon thousands of years. Sometimes I get sick of being scolded by signs in publicly funded parks about how bad we all are, but then I remember that we really are that bad, and
move on with the tour. Along with the natural wonders of the cavern, there are also a few items left by past exploration that are rather cool. The original stair case that tourists used to descend into the dark is on display, though they removed the bat guano elevator they had previously used. I think that would have been a heck of a ride myself. In the Big Room, there is the ladder that the first National Geographic exploration team used to get into the lower caves, and in the center, hanging from the ceiling of the Big Room are two climbing ropes that were hung there courtesy of helium balloons in the mid 80's. These lead to another section of caves, but with a 250' climb up the ropes, most people don't get to explore this section. Lastly, there is the Rock of Ages. It's a tremendous column that has been lost in flowstone, and in days gone by, the rangers would shut off all the lights for the tourists around its base, and lead them all in singing the old hymn of the same name. There is no mention of why this fun old tradition was ended, but
Obfuscator thinks it might have to do with a separation of something and something else, or some such. That wacky philosophy major. Alternatively, perhaps complete strangers don't like being in total cave darkness and forced to sing for the amusement of a sadistic ranger, hoping he will PLEASE TURN THE LIGHTS BACK ON! I wonder how many verses they had to do?
After exiting the park, we drove south towards Texas. Right across the border is Guadalupe Mountain, a nearly 9,000 foot peak that is the highest point in the state. We thought it would be a good camp site for the night, either back country or car camping. When we arrived though, we found out that all the regular camp sites were full, and to get to the back country would require a three hour hike up a 2000' vertical to near the top of the mountain, all before sunset. Since that was only about two and one half hours away, we were in the middle of a dust storm, and we still wanted to eat at some point, we opted out of this and started driving further south. Part of me wishes we had made the attempt
though. That would have been a truly great bunch of bragging rights. Our next attempt at camping was also foiled due to capacity, and finally we ended up in the small town of Pecos in a Quality Inn that served our needs quite nicely.
Lessons learned: New Mexico is a very stabby state. Throughout our time there, virtually every plant in the place tried to put something sharp into us, and we have more splinters and small bloody spots now than any other point of the drive. Bring heavy gloves if you are going hiking in New Mexico. Also consider heavy shirts. Tie down Sunglasses that aren't in use, rather than letting Obfuscator just perch them on his hat where he forgets about them and loses them. When you need to search a large area, there is no substitute for two way radios. Carlsbad: never on a weekend. Camping: spring break is here, and all the parks are full up for the duration. The Quality Inn Pecos is the finest value in the entire town, coming in $25 less than the other competitors, with good rooms, good laundry facilities, and a decent breakfast in the morning. Lastly, Texas gas
prices are a bit cheaper than New Mexico, so fill up there if you have a choice.
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Mom
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mountain goats
Finally there are mountain goats. I thought for sure you'd be lucky enough to see them up in the northern states as you hiked in the mountains, but at least you got to see a fairly good size herd. Loved the Claret Cup cactus flower. Spring must be the time to visit the southwestern deserts. Love, Mom