Day 16, Wednesday 3Apr2024 - Carlsbad Caverns

After breakfast and showers we set off for the Caverns, with our single reservation. The BLM camping was just fine and free. 

As we drove into the visitor center we saw the signs for the Bat viewing.  The bats fly out of the cave by the 1000s every evening.  We were a bit miffed that we simply forgot about this and did not come up last night, doh! I guess it gives us a reason to come again. 

We arrived a bit before my 8:30 to 9:30 entrance ticket. 

There was a short line outside for people with passes and a large zig zag line inside for everyone else. We have our Geezer Pass so we got in the short line.  When we got to the Ranger, I explained that I could not get a ticket for June, the ranger simply crossed out the 1 on her sheet and made it a 2 and said enjoy the Caverns.  June was thrilled that she did not have to wait in the RV while I toured the Caverns.. :-).   

You can walk 1.25 miles or take one of the three elevators into the Caverns. We went straight to the elevators, only one was running but it was just us, another family and a worker with a drink cart on the elevator. The drink cart lady told us all about the elevator, she was very nice. The elevator descends 750 feet in about one minute, that is pretty fast. We exited the elevator in that Big Room where they have a Cafeteria. The lighting is dim and it takes a while for your vision to adjust.  The Big Room is one continuous cave almost a mile long with ceilings has high as 225 ft, it is just huge.  The walking trail that wanders through the cave is about 1.25miles. 

We took a million pictures none capture what you experience, it is amazing. 

A short distance from the Elevators you come upon the natural cave entrance, it is a 1.25 mile walk from there, with 750 ft of vertical, to the surface. 

We basically had the Big Room to ourselves, we kept wondering where all the people were, after a half hour or so we saw maybe a dozen people and everyone was being very quiet. 

The enormity of the cave is hard to capture in a phone, let's just say its name is fitting...Big Room. 

There are many caves yet to be explored. 

In this picture climbers left their rope hanging from the ceiling, they are continuing to explore more caves above the Big Room. 

Periodically we came upon seating areas that were obviously man made but they made for some good cold benches. 

There are some beautiful natural sculptures. This is the Silent Bell. 

The caves go on forever and are just beautiful. We still had the Big Room pretty much to ourselves....amazing. 

We decided to exit the opposite way most people do, hike the Natural Entrance Trail. We took the elevator into the cavern and I hate back tracking. 

As we started our hike out, we started coming onto people coming down....lots of people...a continuous stream of people. 

Apparently nearly everyone hikes in and takes the elevator out, we had no clue. 

We felt lucky that we experienced the Caverns basically by ourselves. With the number of people coming in the natural entrance, it will not take long for it to get crowed and noisy. Also since only one elevator is running, they are going to be waiting to get out.   If you do come to the Caverns, I suggest you get there early, elevator in and hike out.

The 1.25 mile hike out is almost vertical in some spots with lots of switch backs, I can just imagine how hard it was for the early explorers to get in and out of the cave. 

We arrived at the daylight entrance minus a few clothing layers. With the humidity in the caves, it feels warmer than it is when you are getting exercise. 

Since we were doing everything in reverse order, after touring the Caverns we toured the Visitor Center, watched the movie and talked with the Rangers...all done backwards.  I asked the Ranger where the name came from, they really don't know but think it came from a town in Europe...hmm. 

The views as you leave the Visitor center are expansive.....we really enjoyed our time at the Caverns, it should be on everyone's list. 

Our next stop is Big Bend National Park, we have been using Campnab again to try to get into one of the campgrounds there, but so far no luck, so we just set out in that direction. 

It seems our luck ran out on I385, we hit a slow down that google said was going to be 24 mins. We sat in traffic for two hours.  I felt for those in cars, at least I got up and used the rest room twice and made myself a cup of coffee. We finally cleared the scene, it was a truck rollover, but we were a couple of hours behind, so I booked an RV park north of the Park for the night.  On the drive off 385 to the RV park we saw lots of wild life including deer, bats (I hit one), and a pack of Javelinas that I had to brake hard for. Everything got rearranged in the RV, but the antilock brakes are impressive.  Javelinas look like a pig, sound like a pig, but are not pigs, so they say...they look like pigs to me. 

We arrived at Stillwell Ranch Camp around 9PM. The place was a dump, it cost $28, but we were just looking for a parking spot. 

There was no cell coverage or WiFi, it is amazing how just sitting in traffic can make you tired, we ate and went to bed.

Our Thursday plan is to explore Big Bend National Park, we don't know much about it other than it is really big.