Carlsbad Caverns - March 31-April 1

Ah, Carlsbad.  We have been in some mighty magnificent caves in our time including Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Timpanogos Cave in Utah, and several cool caves in Thailand.  But Carlsbad definitely stands supreme.  It’s massive, stunning, and just plain remarkable in every way.  Situated in the middle of a rather unremarkable and ugly arid desert, Carlsbad Caverns evades adequate description:  it’s size defies  comprehension, and the number of features it contains is astounding.  Stalagmites, stalactites, columns, soda straws, draperies, stone lily pads, flowstones, cave popcorn, and more formations than I knew existed delight the visitor at every turn, including a deep dark abyss dubbed The Bottomless Pit. 


                                                 







Normally not a fan of the way our national parks are managed (or mismanaged as the case may be), this park seems not as broken as most others.  Case in point:  a Broadway stage professional was brought in to assist in the placement of lighting in what otherwise is a totally inky black space to illuminate not only the pathway through the labyrinth but also to highlight the stellar formations so as to show them off at their best, and the result is stunning.  LED lights provide ample illumination for travel as well as show off in full magnificence the eerily beautiful formations which abound in this subterranean world.  As well, 100 visitors per hour are allowed entrance into the Big Room of the cave to explore at their own pace making this an extremely accessible cave.  Our self tour was deliberately slow and ooh-aah filled.  My only complaint is that there is so much more to this cave than visitors are currently allowed to experience.  The park website says that three ranger-led tours into far reaches of the cave were suspended due to covid.  That may have applied 3 years ago, but what’s up with that now, I ask!

 








We spent about 5 hours total underground between two different tours:  the self-guided tour through The Big Room and the ranger-guided tour through The King’s Court and Queen’s Chamber.  Unfortunately, the stupendous nightly flight of bats leaving the cave for an evening of moth and insect dining has not yet begun.  The thousands of large Brazilian free-tailed bats which migrate here for the summer have not yet arrived.  We’ll just have to plan another trip to Carlsbad when the bats are home and roosting. Frankly, I can’t wait to return.

 








Before leaving the area, we made a side-trip into Carlsbad, New Mexico, there to meet up for lunch with friends from way back.  Aaron’s first wife LaVonne was a widow when he met her; she’d been married to James Lee Beard and was pregnant with their third child when James Lee was killed in an auto accident at age 24.  But LaVonne stayed close with her in-laws from Carlsbad.  Today we reconnected for a couple of hours with James Lee’s brother Fred and wife.  Loving generous people are found everywhere; these two were beautiful people to break bread with.





 

The house where Aaron's late wife LaVonne lived with her first husband 45 years ago in Carlsbad, NM.






                                                              Umm...no.  Sorry Carlsbad.

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