Day 16: Monday April 28:
Carlsbad Caverns:
Today, we made it over to Carlsbad Caverns to take on the self-guided walking tour of the Natural Entrance (about 1.2 miles into the cavern) and then a ranger led tour of the King's Palace (about 1.5 miles of cavern).
Nana's not too sure about descending into a cavern.
No comment please about the hair. It was blowing fiercely up on top of the hill.
Overlooking the trail to the Natural Entrance.
Outside the Visitor's Center at Carlsbad Caverns.
The ampitheater near the Natural Entrance. This is where we came at sunset to hear the Ranger led discussion of the Brazilian Free-tail bats and watch them fly out of the cavern to begin their night time flights in search of moths or other insects.
It was really cool. You could see the bats come out of the cavern entrance and swirl around getting higher and higher. Then they would swarm over our heads and fly off toward the river.
We saw about 1,000 bats that night.
Because it was so quiet, you could hear their wings flapping overhead.
In the summer they may have around 500,000 bats live back in the cave. They are just returning from their migration, so not many tonight, but still quite interesting and entertaining.
It's a long way down there. And steep too!
See the switch back trail?
Getting down this far, you could smell a foul odor, which we thought was bat guano. We were corrected later. It was really the swallows that roost in this part of the Natural Entrance.
Don't touch the handrails here!
They're covered with bird droppings! Ewwww.
The bats live farther inside the cavern and are inaccessible to us.
My camera was loosing power very quickly at this point and so I didn't use the flash. Sorry it's so blurry.
At this point, I don't have any pictures of the King's Palace tour as my camera gave out. Plus it's really quite dark in a cavern. Photos don't come out too well.
I started using my cell phone to take pictures of the Big Room self-guided tour. It's about 1.5 miles around an enormous cavern room. It's 25 stories tall. It's about 14 football fields long.
The bumpy stuff is called cave popcorn.
Draperies on the ceiling.
soda straws are hollow on the inside.
Map of the Big Room.
Day 17: Carlsbad Cavern Left Hand Tunnel Tour
We had to leave the campsite early this morning to make the Left Hand Tunnel Tour, which is a ranger led tour into a smaller underdeveloped section of the tunnel that doesn't have paved paths or handrails. It's also a lantern tour, so the light we used is similar to what early explorers would have encountered on their expeditions into this cavern system.
We descend in the elevator for one minute and find ourselves about 750 feet below the ground, which is about 75 floors!
This is what we see.
The gift shop and dining area.
Plus bathrooms!
Here's our lights for the tour.
Some formations we encounter.
Cave "Bacon"
Outside, is intensely bright!
We take a short hike to see the hill side.
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