Carlsbad to Ft. Stockton

Most of today was spent at Carlsbad Caverns. We arrived early, like 8:45 AM, which turned out to be a wise move. The crowds really get thick later in the day.

Admission is modest, $6, but my Golden Age Pass (now called Senior Age Pass) paid for both of us. What a deal! Free into all National Parks and Recreation areas!

You enter the cavern in two possible ways. The more interesting way is through the natural entrance, a big hole in the ground. The cave was originally discovered in 1898  by a guy who saw what he thought was smoke in the distance. As he approached, he realized that the smoke was really thousands of bats exiting the cave. They do this at dusk to pursue insects.

  

The other way is by elevator, a direct shot to the Rest Area, 750 feet below the ground. It only takes about a minute. 

We entered through the natural entrance, which involved descending some 300 feet down a sloping paved path. As you descend farther into the cave, you are relying on the artificial light provided by the lights strategically placed by the park. They are situated so that the light never shines in your face (in contrast to the kids with flashlights!) and artfully display the various formations in the cave.

There are many different types of formations: stalactites (hanging from the ceiling), stalagmites (rising from the ground), columns, soda straws, draperies and more. Here are some examples.

Column

Drapery

Flowstone

Soda straws

Stalactites-stalagmites

The cave from natural entrance to Rest Area is about 1.5 miles and takes an hour or so to get through, depending on how many pictures you take.It takes another hour to go through the Big Room.

The Rest Area is the only place that has bathrooms (below ground) and also offers food, drink and clothing. This is where you take the elevator up to the surface, if you are done touring, or where you meet your tour, if you pony up for a tour. We did the King's Palace tour, which was well worth it. There are many formations, better ones than in the main cavern.

The final step was to get in line to board the elevators. This was about 2 PM and the line was quite long. It took 45 minutes to get through the line waiting to be elevated! As we were leaving to go to our car, there were people just arriving to visit the cave. Little did they know they had perhaps 1 hours to trek through the cave before being kicked out!

We learned that there are 171 known caves in the Guadelupe mountains, one of which is Carlsbad Caverns. Quite amazing!

Fort Stockton is not much of a town. There are many motels, but few nice restaurants. The Army built a fort in the 1860s to protect the citizens against Indian attacks. There was a parade ground and perhaps as many as 8 buildings. It doesn't appear today that there was a wall or other defensive protection, but there must have been. The buildings have been reconstructed and the parade ground probably looks much as it did 130 years ago.