Carlsbad Caves
1.5km track, 800feet down
Caverns, rock formations, and bats
Drive into West Texas then Austin
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We drove out to the small state park of the Carlsbad Caves. These caves are enormous, going 800 feet down. Normally everyone walks this distance down then gets a lift back to the surface. However whilst we were there the lift was broken. It was like the Grand Canyon all over again!
At the entrance to the caves is a small amphitheatre, facing the mouth of the cave. This is for the evening when one of the world's largest bat colonies leaves its roost. The bats swarm from the entrance hearing for the horizon to go eat. Videos at the information centre showed how the sky went black with the bats.
We descended down a number of switch backs into the dark. The sun light disappeared as the smell of guano intensified. In one direction the cave carried on- presumably this is where the bats are. We went in the other direction, going deeper. Steadily paths and switchbacks took us between features created in the caves by water slowly seeping through the rocks. All were lit by low level lights, orange to match the colour of the rocks. We passed great swarms of stalactites and fat round stalagmites. At moments we passed small pools of highly concentrated water. There were a lot of signs telling us what not to do- no touching, no going off track, no throwing pennies in the pools, no eating, no drink other than water. These are very important to have, but do you really need so many? Do Americans require so much reminding? So much controlling?
At the bottom was a 1.5km track through the cavern at the bottom. The loop goes around a huge number of a great variety of features, holes, and pools. In the low light pictures don't come out very well, but I did what I could.
It was nearly noon when we were finished and felt hungry. The only place one can eat in the caverns is a small cafe, with toilets, built into a corner of the caves. I wonder what they had to destroy to put that in there? We got a few sandwiches and cookies to share, then made the ascent towards the surface and a proper lunch.
After lunch we just had the long drive out to West Texas. We passed numerous small farms- far smaller than I ever expected to see in America. They had tiny combine harvesters in sheds, a few acres per field separated by ditches. Yet these sort of farms went on for most of West Texas. Seemed odd given everything I've heard of Texas.
Our campsite was a small place on the plains surrounded by tall grasses. We relaxed, made dinner, then just went to bed. Easy.
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