Left Van Horn around 9AM and headed up to Carlsbad Caverns for a second visit. This time I planned to walk down into the cavern from the ‘Natural Entrance’. This starts at the surface and winds down 750 vertical feet by the bat cave. Nice improved trail, but a bit steep. I don’t have joint problems as a rule so I didn’t think there would be too much trouble for me to hike down.
As you can see from the pics, weather was beautiful. Temp was in the high 60’s so it was a comfortable ride.
Tried out my telephoto…
I’d been traveling in a nice flat valley for over an hour and then the road heads up into the hills. Gains 2,000 feet in around 40 odd miles.
And two hours after leaving Van Horn, I’m in the National Park checking out the cacti all over in the process of blooming.
And soon I’m up in the Carlsbad Cavern (CC) parking lot. Quite the view from up here.
There’s where you buy your tickets. You can see that arriving on a Tuesday morning in late May has it’s advantages…if you’re the kind that likes to avoid big crowds.
The elevators are to the left of the counter above, but I went out the doors there on the right and began the 15 minute walk over to the natural entrance. That is where the bats emerge each night. When I was here a month ago, they hadn’t yet migrated up from Mexico. Today however, they were roosting here, and if I’d wanted to stay until dusk, I’d have been able to watch all several hundred thousand of them emerge from the opening to the cavern. Lots of interesting desert fauna on the trail down…
The viewing amphitheater for watching the bats at dusk.
Those sticks held to the head of those tourists are audio tours. Available for rent at $5.
And a look over the pathway into the cavern. The bats, and the cool air emerging from the cavern gave away its presence probably thousands of years ago. The Natives found it first of course, and over the centuries had camped here and nearby. And explored the cave as well.
Can’t really see many of them but there were hundreds of birds zipping around this area. There’s many nests in those pocks in the cavern walls.
I tried to take a shot in the middle of each switchback.
Here you can see a small portion of those birds that are zipping around the opening.
And like the lower part of the caverns, there is lighting the entire trail. Also subdued, so the cave is dark and mysterious.
The trail passes by the bat cave, doesn’t go inside to prevent tourists from disturbing the bats while they are sleeping. The smell was noticeable but not overpowering. The bat cave was mined for guano for many years. You really can’t see inside the bat cave and there’s no lights in there either.
It’s off in that direction. The trail takes a sharp right here.
And a look back at the opening I came through.
Nice little puddle there. 
The trail heads relentlessly downward. My leg muscles were already feeling the strain here but my joints were feeling fine. It’s not a difficult trip but if you’re out of shape, like I am, you’ll feel the muscle strain when you get to the bottom. I know I did.
One of the few places I wasn’t on a steep decline. This incline shown below was a welcome relief for my ankles, toes, leg muscles, and hips. Even my arms were sore from gripping the railing to slow my descent in many places. It didn’t last long though.
Doesn’t look like it in this pic but that rock is massive…huge…
You can see here the remnants of an old timey staircase.
And soon enough you’re at the bottom and on the junction of the trail where you can choose either to take the loop trail around the main cavern, or rest in the cafe then head back upstairs on the elevator. Of course if you’re a 20 something, you can choose to just climb back up the trail to the natural entrance. I did pass some people doing that on my trip down. I wasn’t going to though, my big leg muscles were protesting too much already.
Legs and feet were really feeling it so I paused for a orange juice and a rest at the cafe.
Well, that was fun. Really was. You people should take your family and hike down into Carlsbad. Really a neat place. My poor pictures just can’t do it justice. I glanced at my phone down here in the cavern and it was only 11:15 when I finished the hike. After a 15 minute rest, used the elevator to get back up topside. Because New Mexico’s time is an hour earlier than Texas I’d gained an hour. I went due north to get here so it’s not a time zone thing but a DST thing. One of the states doesn’t use it. When I got back to my RV, I was wondering how the hell could my phone get a cell phone signal 750 feet below ground? It’s a mystery.
Really is a huge valley. Goes for miles and miles. The army had to chase the Indians all over that land for a couple decades. And the Apache’s were really nasty folks, with mad skills.
Bye, Carlsbad…enjoyed my visits a lot. See you some other time.
Since the weather was nice, stopped at this Indian Rock Shelter again. Not raining this time so I took the trail all the way down to the shelter.
Got shots of the various plants for you readers with green thumbs…
Brackish looking water. Not sure I’d want to drink or cook with that. There’s really no stream to feed it, it’s just rain water collected in a low spot that’s mostly impermeable. 
A view from the mouth of the cave.
Then looking to the left.
And then the right.
Inside the cave. You can see evidence of cooking fires on the ceiling but any artifacts are long gone from the ledges on the walls, cracks in the floors, and nearby grounds. The Apaches hold up here long before, and during the Indian wars. After they were rounded up and forced onto a reservation, settlers grabbed any artifacts they could find for sale, or their own personal collections. Scattered to the wind as it were.
This would have been the Indians view in the morning.
The trail leading from the cave to the various foods and water pond.
Water is not all that far from the cave. You can see the pond from the cave entrance.
After that short visit to the Indian cave, it was time to head off north to the town Carlsbad, which is 20 miles from here, and do a little shopping. After entering town, I spotted diesel at $2.899 and stopped in to fill up. Went 3 blocks further up the street to grocery shop at Walmart and there is a station with diesel at $2.699. Doh!
And a half hour later, passed this huge earth dam of some kind. 
And below that was this giant lake.
Ahh, oil derriks. Wasting gas as always.
Some kind of nut tree orchard I’d wager…
Whoa, big ass oil refinery.
Almost passed by this winery and brewery. It was after 4pm my Texas time, 3 pm local, giving me plenty of slack time, so I wandered in, had a sample of their private beers, then filled my growler with my favorite and bought a bottle of their signature wine to boot. Yum.
Nice bar too.
Lots of wines here, but only one of them is their own.
And after a few minutes here, headed up the road and 30 minutes later, I’m parked and hooked up at Midway RV Park, Dexter, New Mexico. Around 7 miles south of Roswell, NM. No one in the office when I arrived so I just wrote out a $14.50 check for the night and taped it to the door. Place didn’t even have any instructions for later arrivals. Dummies. Half hour later, guy shows up and gives me the WiFi password, but tells me I’ll probably have to move my RV closer to the office. They don’t have an outside antenna, just an AP device inside the laundry room near a window. In a building with a metal roof. Gah. But thanks to my high gain WiFi antenna, I was able to find the signal and get a steady 4 bars. Later that evening, I watched a show from the internet and it worked fine. Cool.
The wind picked up quite a bit around sundown and stayed that way until long after bedtime. In fact, it was still blowing the next morning.
Next time, we head for Flagstaff.