Carlsbad Caverns

We spent Wednesday night in Carlsbad. Our camp host recommended Rojas for Mexican food and, of course, we could not resist trying New Mexico's version of South of the Border fare. Thursday morning we got up early and headed for the caverns.

We thought we might get coffee in White City, at the base of the caverns, but the large name on the map was deceptive. White City is nearly a ghost town and there was no where to get coffee at 8:30 a.m. We would have to wait until we got to the visitor center at the park.

Amazing. Magnificent. I just don't have enough cave-adjectives in my vocabulary to describe Carlsbad Caverns. We arrived early Wednesday morning and decided to take the self-guided tour, an option I don't remember existing many years ago when I last toured the cave.

We rented an audio tour and descended the steep walkway into the mouth of the cave. We were almost the only people there this morning, so it was a quiet, surreal experience. Almost like walking in a moonscape.

For three hours we walked the 750 ft incline deep into some of the most spectacular sights on earth. Tall columns of calcite, pools of water filled with rain water that fell over 8 months ago. We took the elevator out of the caverns and headed to Cloudcroft and on to Alamogordo, where we will spend the night at Holloman AFB.

Tomorrow we plan to tour the petroglyphs and spend the day immersed in Native American history.