Terri and I booked a guided tour of the King’s Palace and also did a self guided tour of the Big Room. In comparison to Mammoth Cave, there was much more to see and the cave better lit. You were also allowed to use a flash, which helped get better images. There were many more “decorations” within the cave.; more draperies, stalagmite, stalagmite, columns and bacon. Bacon is a type of wavy drape that forms. The part of the cave we were in is far dryer than Mammoth, therefore little aquatic life. Ranger Chris lead the tour and he was very informative. What Terri and I liked the best was the story of the 16 year old Rancher named Jim White. At the turn of the Century, young Jim was out in the pasture at night and saw, what he described as, a hole of boiling bats. Jim was witnessing a nightly bat flight. As any curious 16 year old would do, he investigated. Young Jim lowered himself into the hole with a metal coffee pot filled with lamp oil. He discovered Carlsbad Cavern. He would explore the cavern often and attempted to get others to join him, however no one in the small town believed his stories of these magnificent findings. One day, a geologist heard of the young boys story and felt, that if any part of it was true, this could be a spectacular find. To make a long story, short, the geologist joined Jim in exploring the cave. This did not occur until the early 1920’s. Imagine this young boy exploring the cave by only a small light from a wick of a make-shift oil lamp. After the Geologist explored the cavern , people now believed the young boy. In the late 1920’s , a journalist from The New York Times decided to do a story. This brought national attention to the Carlsbad Cavern. In the early 1930’s the Cavern went from being a national Monument to a National Park. This was unprecedented, as the country was in the throws of The Great Depression.
This is a gift shop and cafeteria inside the cave!
As you can tell, I took a lot of photos- this was only about half……
The hike was 1.9 miles in the desert with no shade. Now mind you, it was 103 degrees in the dessert. I began to regret suggesting the Balancing Rock. Terri was determined to get me to what has now become “that damn rock”. Part way through, I could hear Keith Morrison’s voice once again-
We would now have to climb over giant boulders ahead to get a view of that Damn Rock! All this way and these boulders that have been baking in the sun. At this point, we gave up and went back to the truck. Here’s a pic from the internet. Enjoy!
Javelinas. Again Terri caught these crossing the road with little ones in tow. They ran quickly and I missed a great photo. At first I thought they were wild bores, but Terri was quick to point out they were NOT pigs.
Carmen Mountains White Tail Deer- rarely seen below 4,500 feet elevation: Terri and I did a spectacular hike of the Lost Mine Trail. We came upon this beauty. We were only 7-10 feet away the entire time. I took a short video of the deer feeding on the leaves of this tree.
We would come across these little buddies quite often. Even though I think he’s adorable, Terri hates anything that scurries or scampers. At my age, I do neither…
This picture is not clear because I had to zoom in a great deal, but this is a Texas cardinal. It was on the remnants of an old windmill.
The name of the NP comes from the big bend in the Rio Grande River. The river separates United States and Mexico. Throw a stone across the Rio Grande and you’ll hit Mexico. In fact, at the Maverick Ranch Resort they have one of the most beautiful golf courses in the U.S. One of the holes is called the international. The green is across the Rio Grande. If you get the ball across the river and on to the green it is sloped to automatically give you a hole in one. Terri and I did not get an opportunity to golf, the temperature was too hot. The National Park is so vast. I took so many photos that I have decided to split these entries up in separate posts.