Our Journey
from San Antonio, TX to Carlsbad, NM started at 7:15am central time. I-10 to US285 were good roads temps again in the mid
80's. Diesel today $2.83. The AC went out so it got a little warm but we did get it fixed once we got to Carlsbad (fuse).
The scenery was a whole lot of oil wells, deserts, plains and plateaus. We arrived in Carlsbad, NM at 2:15pm central
time, 8 hour drive. Once we got set up we went to watch the flight of the bats it was just awesome!
Day 2 in Carlsbad we headed for the caverns at 8:00am mtn. time. Their
are two ways to enter the cavern, the natural entrance (which is were the bats fly out) or an elevator, we choose the
natural entrance and let us tell you, wow! was the smell ever strong of bat urine. The natural entrance is a very long 1-1/2
mile walk that is very steep, switchbacks, and some steep inclines to reach the bottom at 830' below the earth surface.
This was considered a moderate level of difficulty, it took us about an hour but seemed longer. Once we reached the bottom
we meet up with a guided tour to see 4 more chambers which is another 1-1/2 hour tour the tour was called the Kings Palace
and on this tour we went into the kings palace, the queens chambers, the papoose and devils pond. The temperature of the cavern
is 56 degrees. After the caverns we took the 9.5 mile scenic drive gravel road which was all desert on the mountain. The only
wildlife we encountered was a jack rabbit. Weather has been great here in Carlsbad mid 80's and very windy.
