Carlsbad Caverns

So the story goes a 16 year old kid back in the 30’s was out on the south New Mexico desert lands and saw a big black cloud rising out of the ground around sunset. He rode towards rhe cloud and foiund a huge hole in the ground where thousands of bats were flying out into the sky. He was so intigued by the sight and what appeared to be a huge opening to an underground cave he came back the next day with a light a rope and a ladder. He spent the next 45 years of his life exploring the cave and it became known as Carlsbad Caverns. Now a National Park this place is breathtaking. We drove to the park after spending the day in Balmorhea, Texas. where there is an amazing state park that has a huge natural spring fed pool that is like a true oasis in the desert. We parked outside the Carlsbad entrance on a sandy shoulder pull out and spent a quiet night at the bottom of the canyon . Getting into the cave we needed reseervations but it was free because of our parks pass that we just bought. We did the self guided tour and it took ua about 2 hours with Nowa needing to stop and rest once in a while. Our plan was to walk down into the cave system, explore and then take the elevsator back to the surfsace, 750’ up. Wow. It is truly hard to express what is was like to be that far into the earth with huge chambers and openings that could fit a small city! They have a well designed path that we followed and handrails and diffuse lighting throughout the walk. We were in awe at the sights. So many differnt fornations and colors and it just kept going and going and going. Deeper and deeper and deeper! Ivy and I were thinking of ways we could stay the night down there it was so cool. As we reached the bottom of our tour thee was a sign pointing to the elevators and an arrow pointing to “the big room” another 45 minutes of walking. I decided to take Nowa and Ivy up to the bus and have lunch and a rest and Inanna and Aura were gonna go cherck out “the big room” walk. We rode the elevator up the 750 feetr and our ears popped. What a strange feeling to be on the surface so quickly after being underground foe 2 hours…Just as we got back to the bus in the parking lot and started making food, Inanna and Aura came rushing in huffing and puffing. “you guys gotto come see this!” Inanna said, Aura’s eyes were big, and she was smiling, “wait to you see this “. So we made some quick food and set back out to the caves. This time we tookm the elevator down and went back to where the big room trail was. As we walked along the path the chanbers were getting larger and larger, the stalagtites were geting longher and longer, soon rthe whole place looked like and underground fairy village with all the shapes and pools and colors! Seemed like something out of a hollywood movie set. I tried to imagine what is was like for that young kid who wandered down here so long ago with just a light and a rope. Now I could truly see why he spent the rest of his life making sure the world could see this wonder.