Carlsbad Caverns

March 12-14

There are 63 national parks in the United States and its territories and it took meeting Brandy to visit my first one (which was Mesa Verde National Park in southwestern Colorado last year.)

This weekend, we visited my second, Carlsbad Caverns in Southeastern New Mexico.

Background

I’ve lived in Mew Mexico since October 2006. At this writing, it’s been 14 years and before meeting Brandy, I could count the number of times I’d left the Albuquerque area on one hand, most of those times was to go back to visit California.

A few weeks ago, I began planning a trip to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. I booked the room then, we took the day off Friday, March 12, and made the 4 1/2 hour drive south on highway 285.

Departure

As we travelled down Highway 285 just outside of Vaughn, New Mexico, we came across the art installation known as Cowboy Ruckus: Two 18 foot tall cutouts of cowboys seemingly argue from across the highway from each other.  I stopped for a couple of (poorly lit) photos then continued on our way.

We arrived at our Comfort Suites at 1:30. We attempted an early check-in bit didn’t want to pay $45 for an extra hour and a half so we went further into town for a bite to eat.  We wound up at Yellowbrix, a restaurant right on the main drag through town. We took a seat outside where we noticed that it’s not only considerably warmer in Carlsbad than it is in Albuquerque, but it’s also much more humid.

We ordered a plate of their nachos, Brandy got a seafood chowder and I got a green chile cheeseburger (surprised, aren’t you?)

I really liked the nachos but Brandy wasn’t fond of the shredded beef that came atop the pile of chips. It also had diced cucumbers, which I found quite odd. As usual, I dodged them as well as the tomatoes. Otherwise, they were pretty good.

When our food came, I noticed my green chile cheeseburger didn’t have any green chile on it. We snagged a server that wasn’t ours and pointed that out. She returned quickly with a little bowl of chiles. They weren’t diced like I am used to. Instead they were pretty much cut into halves. That was different.

The green chile itself was very flavorful and mild in heat. The burger itself was a hair overcooked (medium-well, instead of medium) and not very well seasoned. The fries were amazing though and definitely my favorite part of the meal.

Brandy didn’t like her seafood chowder all that much. It seemed thin for a chowder and she said the only seafood in it was chunks of salmon.

We got our check and headed back to the hotel where it was finally time to check in.  We got to the room, hooked up the Roku and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Saturday, March 13

I was up bright and early the next day.  I hung out in the lobby of the hotel for a few hours drinking coffee until I felt like it was time for Brandy to wake up.  I got her up, we got ready and headed out at about 8:00. 

After stopping for gas, we arrived at the caverns at about 9:00 and were greeted by a line of probably 120 people ahead of us.  A little background here:

In an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, Carlsbad Caverns is limiting tickets to 1,000 per day, on a timed entry basis, 40 people every 15 minutes.  Tickets must be purchased in person and are on a first come, first served basis, with a final entry time of 2:15 pm.

So, that said, by the time we got there, an hour after they’d opened, they were already selling tickets for the 11:45 entry.  After waiting in line for about 40 minutes, we finally got our tickets for a 12:45 entry.  They advised us to show up at the Natural Entrance about 5 minutes early, but that still gave us about 3 hours to kill.  We strolled through the gift shop, picked up a couple trinkets and headed out to find something to eat.

Lunch Time

We made the 30 minute drive back into Carlsbad and found a place to eat called PJ and B’s Rio Cafe on the banks of the Lower Tansill Lake on the Pecos River.  I got a country fried steak and eggs, Brandy got the Philly cheesesteak.  We sat and waited for our food to be brought to us, but noticed a family that sat after we did got their food before we did.  They also ordered a country fried steak and eggs, and a Philly cheesesteak.  I’m almost 100% certain they wound up with our food, but it’s all good.  Ours came out shortly after and was fine, if not a little bland (nothing some salt and a ton of pepper couldn’t fix.)

Solo Hike Through the Caverns

After eating, we headed back to the Caverns, stopping to snap some pics along the drive from the gate to the visitor’s center.  We wound up parking at about 12:15, still giving us about half an hour before we had to go in, so we sat in the car when Brandy realized she was missing her bag.  She’d left it at the cafe.  She panicked and insisted on leaving me to hike the caverns alone while she ran in to town to get it.  After watching her drive off, I went back in to the visitor’s center to await my entry time of 12:45.

I went through the attached book store and picked up a National Parks passport and got my first stamp in it.  I also picked up a couple of collectible tokens and a holder, on top of a keychain, pin and baseball from the gift shop on our first visit.  I also rented an audio guide, but I only used it through the first third or so of the hike as I found it cumbersome to put it away every time I wanted to take some pictures.

The Natural Entrance

At 12:45, a park ranger let a group of us through the doors leading to the natural entrance, stopping at the bat flight amphitheater for a quick debriefing (no food or drink, plain water only, keep your voices down, pictures are OK, etc.)  Then the group headed down the winding trail into the cavern.

Now, leading up to this trip, I’d done fairly extensive research (as I am wont to do) and read quite frequently that the natural entrance trail was a very steep downward trail and was not recommended for anyone with respiratory or heart problems.  I thought, it’s downhill, right?  How bad could it be?

It was bad.

It was steep.  Very steep.  VERY steep.  I wasn’t even all the way down into the caverns yet and my feet were hurting from pushing down into the toes of my hiking boots.  I was dressed in jeans, an undershirt and a tee shirt.  I understood it’s much cooler in the caverns than it is on the surface, so I had a long sleeve henley and a flannel in my backpack, along with a half gallon of water.  WAY too much to be carrying on this hike.  I never broke out the layers.  While it may have been cooler in the caverns, it was very humid so I was nice and sweaty before you knew it.  Additionally, I could have gotten by with my 24 oz water bottle.  But hey, live and learn, huh?

Anyway, I made the hike all the way down to the Big Room (about 1.25 miles) taking pictures all along the way.  Once I got to the Big Room, I made the 1.25 mile circuit there as well.  And I did the WHOLE thing, I didn’t take any of the shortcuts offered, which would have shortened the walk to just over half a mile.

What Did I See?

Not being a geologist, I can only relay the information as I understand it, which is that over millions and millions of years, mineral deposits in dripping water create these wonderful formations, stalactites and stalagmites (which are called columns, if they meet) and, depending on the mineral that’s deposited, drying rates, temperatures and a bazillion other factors, can create different size and shape formations (like sheets, and popcorn).

That said, I could never truly grasp the fact that the Big Room is three football fields big and is tall enough for the Capitol Building dome to fit in.  I’d read all that, but you don’t truly understand just how vast the room is until you’re in it.

Some of the key formations you’ll see when touring the caverns include Fairyland, Chinese Theater and Rock of Ages.  There are little signs at these formations, so they’re very hard to miss.

There were plenty of times that I stopped in almost pure darkness with the rest of the group well ahead of me.  It was so eerily quiet, with the only sound being the distant dripping of water echoing through the caves.

The Ascent

After hiking for 2-plus hours in humid conditions, my feet aching most of the time and drenched in sweat, it was time to call it done.  I made my way to the elevator to get out of the big room and was confronted with a 40 minute line.  I finally made it to the elevators where there was a sign advising that only one family/group/household was allowed in the elevator at a time in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.  Since the capacity in each elevator is 16 people, there was no way I was going to be so spoiled as to take an elevator alone.  When the doors opened, I invited the family of five behind me on to the elevator.  I’ve been vaccinated, we were all wearing masks and I was able to keep my distance so there was no real threat really to any of us.

We made the 750 foot trip up to the visitor’s center where I dropped off the audio guide and staggered my way outside where Brandy had been waiting for about two hours.  She scooched over to the passenger seat and we headed back to the hotel (the GPS taking us a REALLY funky way through some back roads and neighborhoods, to shave a minute off the drive.)

We made it back to the hotel eventually, ordered some Chinese delivery and called it an early night. We got up Sunday morning and left at 8:00, arriving home at 12:30 or so.

Conclusion

After 14 years of wanting to, I finally made it down to Carlsbad Caverns, my officially second visit to a National Park, but first I made on purpose. I will say, it did not disappoint. I spent the next three days in a pretty significant amount of pain, but I can’t wait to do it again.

As usual, I have PLENTY of pictures up in my Photo Diary.

What’s Next?

Tomorrow (Saturday, March 20,) Brandy and I will be heading up to Tijeras to hike the Cedro Creek Nature Trail.

Next weekend, March 27-28, Brandy will be in Iowa to visit her mom and a friend. I’m going to pick up my son and we’re going to go to Santa Fe for a stop on the Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail. Not sure which of the three in Santa Fe we’re going to go to yet, but likely not La Plazuela at La Fonda. That’s gonna be a little upscale for me and Jarrod. We’ll probably wind up at a more low-key place, like Atrisco Cafe.

After that, Brandy had said she’s ready for another trip to Crested Butte in April, one last trip up before the nuptials in May, so we’ll see about that. I’m also going to see about taking a trip up to Ten3 in April.

I leave you now with this quote, apropos for the trip I’m reporting on:

“I Love Places That Remind Me How Small Me And My Problems Actually Are.”

-Unknown

Until next time!

-Phil