Spelunking

Currently In: Alpine, Texas
Heading for Del Rio, Texas in a few days then on to the RGV


Although we were waiting for the weather to warm up before moving on, the real reason we stopped in El Paso is that I wanted to see the Carlsbad Caverns!
We haven't been to a National Park in months.   It was a 2.5 house drive from El Paso, so I was a little worried that it would be worth all that time.  But, true to National Park form, it did not disappoint.

The geologic history of the Caverns is 265 millions years old.  I couldn't begin to describe how it, and everything in it, was formed.  But in 1898, a teen age Jim White saw a black cloud coming from the entrance to the cave.  When he explored the cave, he found bats coming out at dusk.
We ventured down that same entrance.  The migratory bats return in April, so we won't see them leave at dusk today, like Jim White did.

We walked down a steep path into the dark.

Once we got part way down, I took a shot up to the entrance.

This column is sitting in Devil's Spring - our fist named area of the cavern.

This one was called the Boneyard for obvious reasons.

I know my photos are not capturing the magnificence of the cavern nor the formations.  There are some beautiful pics on the internet.  But I took this one of the Big Room - and it is huge at 8.2 acres. We are now about 750 feet below the surface.

Hanging from the ceiling is the Lion's Tail.

Fairyland reminded us of the area with the same name in Bryce Canyon.

We saw this wire ladder that was built in 1924 by Jim White,  the man who discovered the cavern.

The Chandelier.

Only 5% of the cave structures are active - continuing to form by dripping water and minerals.  This stalagmite called Crystal Spring Dome is one of them!

This little hole in the side of the cavern is called Painted Grotto.  The colors come from the presence of other minerals.

We took a tour of another part of the cavern with Aubrey, a National Park Ranger.

The King's Palace.  This is the deepest point in the cavern with paved trails - 830 feet below the surface.

We walked into the Papoose Room and saw this cool drapery. Draperies are formed when the ceiling curves.  This one had a light on it so we could see the detail.


















There were so many interesting formations to look at but I liked this one.

Many pools and springs dot the cavern;  This one is called Green Lake and reflects in green.

While it was quite a day in the National Park, Johnny was also excited by this unexpected scene on our way home.  He did a u-turn on the highway to get a closer view of these Pronghorn! We counted 20 - more than we saw in any one place in Yellowstone.