Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns!

After White Sands, we travelled north east to get around the tall mountains outside of Alamogordo, past Roswell (no, we did not stop to view any of the UFO sites) and headed down to Carlsbad, New Mexico. The main part of town was all torn up for street construction and we almost scraped street signs as we drove (slowly) down the narrow roads. Then we headed out of town towards the Caverns about 20 miles to Whites City to our RV park. This was a pretty no-frills RV spot but (1) we are living in this gorgeous motorhome, not the park, (2) it saved us a 20-mile journey, each way, to visit the park and (3) we kinda light the rustic and not crowded parks.

our RV spot for 2 days

the sunrises looking east were wonderful

Deer came by every day and, one day while outside, I saw two wild pigs come by....very thin legs. But, when they spotted me, they took off in a flash. I did not know pigs could move that fast...scary. Good thing they did not come after me.....I would looked for the nearest tree. Man, they were fast!

Anyway, back to the park.... There is an entrance sign about 1/2 mile from our park.

Then you drive about 8 miles up into the hills to get to the visitor's center and the cavern entrance. There are two ways to get into the caverns. One, you walk down this switchback trail, called the Natural Entrance Route, and see the sights and you go further and further in. This is about a mile-and-a-quarter in length and descends more than 750 feet.

Just above these trails is an amphitheater where, in the right season, the bats will fly out of the caverns at dusk to go for food. You can sit and watch thousands fly out. Unfortunately, it was not the season while we were there. They had already gone south for the winter. Rats....or, should I say Bats.

The other entrance is down an elevator which takes you down 754 feet. We did this one. When you step out you see the gift shop (naturally) and the cafeteria.

Exit from the elevator

Cafeteria. This gets crowded during the summer. Not so much when we were there.

Exit to take elevators back up to the surface.

Kim and I got there on the very first elevator ride down....it was just the two of us and the operator so, when we got into the caverns we had it all to ourselves for about 30 minutes or so.

Now....some photos from inside the cavern. Notice there are formations that come down from the ceiling and those that "rise" from the floor.

The National Geographic had a survey team come look around decades ago...this is one of the ladders (if you can call it that) that they used to go into one of the holes.

So...here's the basic question: How were the caverns formed?
A sulfuric acid solution dissolved wide passages and rooms from cracks in limestone rock. The stone formed about 250 million years ago from a reef complex along the edge of an inland sea. Much later, geologic forces pushed the buried rock layers up and erosion wore away softer minerals and exposed the ancient reef as the Guadalupe Mountains. The sulfuric acid resulted from leaked hydrogen sulfide gas from deep oil and gas deposits which moved through rock and eventually mixed with rain water percolating down from the surface. After the rock hollowed and the acidic water drained out, dripping mineral-rich water left "decorations" on the caves walls and floors.
http://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm

It's very quiet inside and a bit cool. The Big Room, where we walked around to see all these areas, was HUGE....

With a floor space equal to about 14 football fields, this underground focal point of Carlsbad Caverns clues visitors in to just how large the caverns really are. Its caverns are close enough to the trail to cause voices to echo, but the chamber itself is so vast voices don't echo far; the White House could fit in just one corner of the Big Room, and wouldn't come close to grazing the 255-foot ceiling.

The map of the Big Room where we walked around.

From the brochure showing a 3D map of the caverns.

When we got back to the surface and walked outside for some real air, this is the view looking south.

This was a great stop. Absolutely amazing views inside the caves of the rock formations. Put this on your "must see" list.

Kim and Steve

White Sands National Monument - New Mexico

After a week in Cortez, Colorado visiting Mesa Verde, relaxing and catching up on some coach maintenance, we headed down to Gallup, New Mexico to spend the night before heading to Albuquerque (tough city to spell correctly).

Nice drive south to Gallup...pulled up to the USA RV Park in the afternoon, got all settled in and decided to call it a night. Little did I know what was about to happen that night....

A BIG wind, rain and snow came roaring in from the south. I woke up around 2am with our coach, 33,000 pounds heavy, being rocked and jostled around. The wind came and went in various strengths through the night and, in the morning, we were greeted by a blanket of thin snow on the ground. And we came south to get away from the cold !

You can see the snow buildup on the wipers....brrrr.

We waited until noon the next day to travel to Albuquerque due to wind warnings on the highway and, when we got there, stayed 3 nights at the air force base. Nice place.

After all of that, we FINALLY headed south again to visit the White Sands Monument in southern New Mexico. This was not on our original itinerary but everyone we talked to spoke highly of it...sooo..off we went. And it was so worth it.

Believe it or not, that's white sand you are seeing, not snow.

Here's a quote from their website (you can skip over this if you're not interested in how it was created):
The largest gypsum dune field in the world is located at White Sands National Monument in south-central New Mexico. This region of glistening white dunes is in the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert within an "internally drained valley" called the Tularosa Basin. The monument ranges in elevation from 3890' to 4116' above sea level. There are approximately 275 total square miles of dune fields here, with 115 square miles (about 40%) located within White Sands National Monument. The remainder is on military land that is not open to the public. This dune field is very dynamic, with the most active dunes moving to the northeast at a rate of up to 30 feet per year, while the more stable areas of sand move very little. The pure gypsum (hydrous calcium sulfate) that forms these unusual dunes originates in the western portion of the monument from an ephemeral lake or playa with a very high mineral content. As the water evaporates (theoretically as much as 80" per year!), the minerals are left behind to form gypsum deposits that eventually are wind-transported to form these white sand dunes. Many species of plants and animals have developed very specialized means of surviving in this area of cold winters, hot summers, with very little surface water and highly mineralized ground water.

http://www.nps.gov/whsa/index.htm

A very enjoyable spot to spend a couple of day. It's always nice to have friendly hosts.

Anyway, here's a number of White Sands photos....

We thought we were in the snow country.

There were about eight school buses full of children out for a play day...they slide down the slopes on those circular plates.

This cute couple keeps following us where ever we go so I'm compelled to take their picture.

..and here's the mighty photographer creeping up to his object....

Notice how he's putting the camera way down to get a ground level shot?

Ah ha ! Gotcha!

And one last place...the largest pistachio in the world !

White Sands...a GREAT place to put on your 'must see' list.

Kim and Steve

Mesa Verde Far View site

A couple of days after visiting the cliff dwellings we went up the 25-mile twisty road again....

The views were spectacular.

...to see the Far View site. During this time of year, most people are going to the cliff dwellings and, half the park is closed, so we had this site all to ourselves for a couple of hours.

The site is quite extensive so I'm posting a map to show how many places we were able to visit and take photos.

We took over 100 photos and that would make a loooooong posting so I've posted them here for your viewing....

https://picasaweb.google.com/stevenlstrick/MesaVerdeFarViewSite?authuser=0&feat=directlink

These people lived on top of the mesa and were farmers. They lived in this location for 500 years before moving south into Arizona and New Mexico.

Site B

Site C. A reservoir to hold water. They built canals higher up the mesa and, as it rained, the rain ran downhill into here. This was 12-feet deep at one time. Sediment over the years has filled it up.

Site D. This is where the water flowed in from the north, which is behind you.

Site D. A close look at the entrance to the reservoir where the water entered.

Site D. The people would walk down these steps into the reservoir to fill their baskets with water, then hand water their crops.

Site C. A panorama of the reservoir

Site E. Megalithic House.

Site E. When this was discovered in the 1930s all that was showing were these tall large rocks to the left. Once excavated, a small group of homes and a kiva were uncovered.

Site F. Far View House...named because of the 360-degree view. These homes were three stories high.

I found this most fascinating. In my mind, the person who discovered this, J. Walter Fewkes, was looking around for more sites and came across the ruins. BUT, this was not the case. What he saw was this very large mound of rubble, comprised of dirt, tree limbs, etc, that had collected for hundreds of years. One he began excavation, the entire Far View House was revealed.

Site F. Pine Shrine House

Site H. Every now and then, we'd see some markings like this. People still don't know what they mean.

Site H. Coyote Village. We were allowed to walk around and into this site.

Site H. Coyote Village.

All in all, a remarkable site(s). Kim had a ball. She could not take enough pictures. We fancied ourselves and famous archaeologists as we discussed why the walls were made the way they were, why were the kivas placed where they were, etc. Fun stuff.

Next stop: White Sands