Some great terms: Drapery Formation · Twilight Zone · Karst · Ice Age · Mescalero Apache · Pod Formation · Guano Miner · Dark Zone · Steleothem · Bat Pup · Underground · Cave Cricket · Bell Canopy Formation · Flowstone · Stalactite · Drip · Stalagmite · Helicite · Guano Bucket · Aragonite Crystals · Echolocation · Prehistoric Coral Reef · Gypsum · Column · Wingspan · Cave Pearl · Roost · Canyon · Spiral · Salt Flat · Rattlesnake · Mexican Free-tailed Bat · Grotto · Calcite …

This weekend was our adventurous trip to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. We traveled with Sarah-Architect and Jeremy Sr., who had been before and were wonderful guides. Today I am aching from a lot of hiking around, but it was SO WORTH IT to see a completely different world underneath the one we see every day, one with insane formations—some of them 80 feet tall—sculpted over hundreds of thousands of years by water, all existing unseen in a surreal darkness until relatively recently. And to see thousands of bats spiral up from the cave at dusk to head out into the New Mexican desert-scape in search of moths. The cloud of them was seemingly endless and magically close overhead. Their little wings made a whisperish papery sound, and this was truly one of those inspirational nature moments in life. My imagination is fed fat by this whole experience.

We started our trip with a morning lantern tour of the Left Hand Tunnel. Why lanterns? Because this was how the caverns were first explored in the 1930s. Amazing. We took the elevator up from the Left Hand Tunnel, had some lunch, and then walked back in via the massive, natural entrance. Cave-swallows chirped, dove, and pooped overhead until we were out of the range of natural light and into the realm of the cave’s spectacular formations.

On Day 2, we trekked up a steep hillside trail to the entrance of Slaughter Canyon Cave (named after some guy whose last name was Slaughter). This cave is older and closer to the surface than the Main Cave, and our ranger-guide was spewing so much cave-knowledge, we were loaded up on facts. Although no bats have lived in this cave since it began actively dripping minerals into amazing formations, the floor of the cave is comprised of THIRTY FEET of prehistoric bat guano (poop). We were also treated to a special sight: 800-year-old charcoal and ocher drawings on the cave wall made by Mescalero Apache.

We finished our trip with lunch at Rattlesnake Springs and flew home exhausted and impressed.

I’ve posted my photos here.

Jeremy Sr. got some amazing shots of the cave’s formations, and I’ll give you the link when he’s posted his.

Since I highly recommend a trip like ours, here are some tips, aka …

“YOUR CARLSBAD CAVERNS TRAVEL GUIDE”

Things we did that I’m glad we did …

- went while the bats were there (they migrate South for the winter, and although there are perks to visiting in the winter, like more water in the caves, you just don’t want to miss these bats)
- planned our trip VERY EARLY and ordered tickets online to the tours we wanted (even so, some of the tours had already sold out, months in advance)
- flew into El Paso via Southwest, rented a car from Avis, drove about 2 1/2 hours, and stayed two nights at the Days Inn in Carlsbad—all good situations
- started with the Left Hand Tunnel tour, a great introduction to the history of the caverns
- thought ahead before starting any tour or hike, because bathrooms and food are in many places not available; this is a park in the desert, and parts of it are more “tourist friendly” than others, which are more rugged—it’s a good idea to know (a) how long a tour will be, (b) how far/difficult of a drive and/or hike it is to get there, and (c) what facilities are/are not available once you arrive; there’s no eating inside the caves
- picked up a picnic lunch at Subway/Wal-Mart (styrofoam cooler) before heading to Slaughter Canyon, for example
- wore layers: It was 90 degrees on the surface and less than 60 degrees inside the caves
- wore good sneakers or other hiking shoes with grippy soles
- saw Rattlesnake Springs
- did some geocaches along the drive

Things I didn’t do that I wish I had done …

- invested in MUCH brighter headlamps
- gotten in better shape before going, so I wasn’t so sore
- gotten up early to watch the bats come back into the cave before sunrise
- gotten gas in Carlsbad before heading back to El Paso (brings new definition to the word “boonies”)

Other thoughts …

The Main Cave visitor center has a lunchy place, and the main cave entrance and tour is subtly lit, with moderately easy (although still steep and long) trails, and with the alternate option of taking an elevator directly down to the Big Room tour (fairly flat). Anything else you do will be more difficult. A disabled person or someone a bit older would definitely still enjoy the experience, via the elevator, of seeing the Big Room (about a two-hour tour). However, we saw a number of (TOO MANY) crying little-ones. Their cries echoed around the cave, affecting the experience of every single person there. They were cold, hungry, bored, and stuck, and they had long ago seen their attention spans expire. While I’m sure the first 15 minutes was magical for each of them, after that they likely wanted to run free and couldn’t, and these tours and trails are TOO LONG—and many of them MUCH too dangerous—for little kids. A liberal estimate for a minimum age for a kid who is actually going to (a) enjoy the experience and (b) be able to follow the many rules meant to preserve the cave is, in my humble opinion, ten. AT LEAST ten. If you want to show this amazing place to your kids, wait until they are old enough so it’s going to be FUN for them. The kids I saw who were about sixth-grade level had just enough patience and curiosity to be totally into it, and still had plenty of imagination to be bewondered. I overheard two little girls chatting before the bat show. They were discussing not Barbie, not video games, but echolocation, how cool is that for variety?

Was that a rant? Ug. Moving on …

Know right now that Carlsbad is a small, desert town. It has your typical fast food joints, a Chili’s, a Wal-Mart, a bunch of motels, and some ratty looking restaurants. El Paso is also a pretty small city. There is nothing between El Paso and Carlsbad. Don’t expect resources or “entertainment” of the city kind. Bring what you need, and be ready to enjoy moments of complete silence, to see stars overhead, and to really commune with nature.

That said, the Days Inn has free wi-fi and a pool. The margaritas at Chili’s are nice and big. Although we didn’t do the Living Desert “zoo,” many people recommended it. In case you need some evening or alternative things to do.

You can’t talk or take photos during the bats’ exodus from the cave at dusk, and your cell phone has to be turned off. Electronics can mess with the bats’ echolocation.

And now this computer is messing with MY echolocation. It was fantastic (and so needed) to get away from the city and spend a little time out in the quiet. Stevel was glad to get back to tasty food, but today I can’t help continuing to imagine a life without the traffic, competitive pushing, and noise. I’ll have to ease back into it. Maybe I just need a little jaunt to the Third Street Promenade for some shopping—you know, to remind me why I like calling this place Home.

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