Greg Can't Get Much Lower

Thursday, January 31, 2013

I am sitting in the camper in the parking lot at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Greg is somewhere over 800 feet below me. He is taking a guided tour of the Lower Cave with a small group. The park provides the helmet, headlamps and gloves. For three hours they are exploring under the Reef. I have claustrophobia, so he didn't need to be touring with me. We have done a few small caves in the past, and Greg kids about the claw marks on his arms when I freak out!

We broke camp this morning after the rooster incident and being told the whole town was shutting off the electricity at 11 am for maintenance. Bye-Bye! When we arrived at the park we walked to the natural cave entrance to do another self-guided tour. We entered through the large outside opening in the amphitheater. During the warmer months of the year visitors can gather there to see the millions of bats exit the cave at dusk and dawn. We spent an hour traveling down, down, down into the cave. It was like hiking down the side of a canyon. It is paved, and has hand rails, but is steep. Various features are lit, but it is still dim. We came out at the bottom by the elevators and the Big Room. They were just getting ready to open up the snack bar, and we visited the restrooms. Yes, I know, TMI, but I was fascinated with having a fully tiled, modern restroom at 750' deep, carved out of the cave, and curious about the plumbing challenges!

We ascended back up in the elevator. It was dynamited out of solid rock in 1931. The crews worked from both directions and met within a quarter inch of each other. The ranger who was operating it offered to turn out the lights on the way up, but when she saw my freaked out face, she changed her mind.

After lunch in the camper, Greg left for his adventure. I am parked on top of the Reef and can see at least fifty miles east across the desert. There is a high overcast coming in after a beautiful clear morning, but the weather report is promising dry weather and in the 60's. When Greg comes back at 4 pm, we will head up to Carlsbad and stay at Brantley Lake State Park. This will be our first New Mexico state park. After that, we plan to head to Roswell, New Mexico. Time to check out the UFO Museum and the Crashdown Diner from the TV show Roswell.