Day 13: Broadcasting from 750ft Below Ground UPDATED!

Today was spent at the wondrous Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico! That’s right we’ve made it all the way to Mountain Time. So now we are two hours different from our common time. It was exciting crossing over the state boarder we got to switch all our clocks over and were glad we were given an extra hour in the park. We needed it.



In Carlsbad Caverns there is 2 ½ miles of self guided tours and another 1 1/4miles of guided tours. We were unable to get in on a guided tour but that’s okay for us. The we had in the caves was excellent. First we decided to use what is known as the Natural Entrace. This is the big opening to the cave where people bats and birds enter and exit. The other entrace is via an elevator shaft but you do not get to see nearly as much if you take it. We did both. The Natural Entrance is neat and really gives a visitor the sense of how deep the cave goes down. You also get to see an area where the bats hang out. During the 1920s and parts of the 1930s this cave was used as a guano mine. Gauno is bat poop and is used as a fertilizer. Apparently there is so much guano in the Bat Cave that it has added 40feet to the floor! This are ais now closed off to visitors, but the bats do come out and eat flying insects nightly starting in the spring and ending in October where they migrate to other places.

The human developed sections of the cave go down to about 750feet. When traveling the Natural entrace you go down on foot in a winding path that terminates in the “Big Room” There is more cave below the Big Room as well but that remains undeveloped so researchers can study the cave in a natural way. “The Big Room” Is where all the famous geological formations are, and a ton of them, there is. I would describe it to you but words simply cannot do it justice instead, I’ll post pictures of them. But even those do not really describe the cave fully. Needless to say this park is a must see even if there are around is NOWHERES-ville. Tonight we are watching the Bats fly and hunt! I’m Psyched!

Want to know more?

Side thought: In New Orleans a city that was once almost completely destroyed has had internet city wide for about 9 months or so but since we’ve left Houston We’ve been in a virtual internet blackout. Makes me think anyways….


Stats and more about the Caverns to come tomorrow with pictures!

UPDATED:
Pictures to come once I weed through them and decide which ones are worthy.

Let me tell you about Lechuguilla Cave. This cave was discovered in 1986 and is the largest limestone cave in the USA. To get in you must be a very experienced spelunker, but once you are in you see all kinds of underground untouched wonders. From gypsum and flow stone formations to rare kinds of microbes and other forms of fauna. I mean the public caverns are amazing to be sure, but the things in Lechuguilla Cave is beyond compare. (I know this from the exhibit in the Visitor Center and other research.) I only hope that one day they will open it up to more people so, the general public can experience the new world found in the remote places of Carlsbad National Park. However before that can happen the National Park needs to be extended so all of Lechuguilla Cave is protected. Right now a lot of it is, but parts extend to the boundaries of the park and development on these parts can threaten the cave beneath the land. Hopefully that will come sooner than later.

So that is all about the inside of Carlsbad Caverns.
Now for the stats to Carlsbad Caverns, around the park and the town...

33% of the Country!
Distance: 225.9mi
Overall Avg: 40.7mph
Moving Avg: 53.5mph
Total Time: 5h and 33m
Moving time: 4h 13m
Stopped: 1h 20m
Distance to go: Juat a few more stops
Gas used: About a tank a day not bad for 500mi days
Wrong Turns: Not many at all! straight shot once we got in the south and southwest.