Carlsbad Caverns

Our next destination was Guadalupe Mountains National Park in northwest Texas so we jumped on Interstate 10 heading to El Paso.  Our introduction to Texas at El Paso did not go well, there was road construction on the interstate forcing all the traffic into one lane in the heart of the city.  We decided to get off the interstate and grab some lunch.  As it turns out, all the surface streets were also under construction and you must remember that we (I use that term very loosely) are driving a 30 foot motorhome through this mess. Let's just say the El Paso experience was not pretty.

We continued on our 200+ mile journey and arrived at the park at 5:30.  The visitor's center was closed and the parking lot campground with it's 20 primitive first come first serve rv parking camping spots were completely full.  Soooo, my passport stamp for Guadalupe Mountains was a complete fail. I guess we will have to return to Texas to visit the state's two national parks at a later date.

We headed down the road another 30 miles back into New Mexico to Carlsbad Caverns and camped just outside the main gate. In the morning we packed early and headed to the caverns for a tour.

We entered the Visitor's Center and showed my senior pass and we received tickets to enter the cavern on a self guided tour for free!

Bill all geared up to explore the cave.

I had a more minimalist approach to the cave.

The cave was first discovered in the 1800s by settlers who noticed hundreds of thousands of bats rising out of the natural entrance in the evening.

A young cowboy named Jim White became fascinated by the cave and spent years exploring it.  He was eager to share the beauty of the cavern with others and led tours that began with a 170-foot descent in a bucket once used to haul bat guano from the cave. When the cave became a national monument Jim White became the first chief ranger.  In 1930 the cave became a National Park and the National Geographic ran a series of illustrated articles and Carlsbad Caverns became world renowned.

This was a ladder the National Geographic team used in the 1930s

I will leave you with a few of the over 150 pictures we took in the caverns.

There is a snack bar and gift shop at the bottom of the cave.  You have to love commercialism.

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. In 1995 the caverns were designated a World Heritage Site.
2. In 1986 the Lechuquilla Cave was discovered which extends over 112 miles and holds a very fragile ecosystem.
3. I love my "ol' geezer pass"!!!