Off to the Carlsbad Area

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Our six nights in Roswell didn't go exactly as planned. No alien sightings and no abductions. Oh well! We did get to experience a couple strong wind events and enjoyed Bottomless Lakes State Park. Our next stop will be in the vicinity of Carlsbad New Mexico. There is an Escapees park just north of town - The Ranch. We called a day in advance to see if we could get in for a week and were told no problem. The drive is only 70 miles or so due south on US-285. It didn't take long before we start to see what we discover to be quite common in this area lots of cattle and oil derricks dotting the landscape as far as the eye can see. It's not Texas but apparently this area of eastern New Mexico shares many of the same characteristics as Texas.

The park has a special deal for first time visitors - $50 plus electric for a week. At only 10 cents a KWH, that worked out to $9.35 a day for full hookup. The park prides itself on its friendliness. As we pulled in and started to unhook. They rang the big school bell at the registration building and several people came over to introduce themselves and welcome us. Most (if not all) of the sites here are owned by individuals. When the owner isn't here, their site can be offered up to visitors like us. Some sites have small sheds while others have larger outbuildings. I suppose they have learned not to let visitors back into a spot without supervision from a local. They don't want us to damage the lot we are assigned to. The guy that led us to our site had on a Palmyra tee shirt. Turns out he was originally from the small town just outside of Rochester. What a small world. We chatted with him a bit and then settled in. 

The campground provides a bag full of brochures for things to do in the general area. Admittedly we really only had one item in mind when we pulled in and that was to visit Carlsbad Cavern National Park. But after going over the literature, we discovered there were lots of things that sounded interesting. On our first full day, we headed to the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park on the north side of Carlsbad. At $5 per adult, the price was definitely right. The inside of the visitor center had all sorts of displays. We took a quick look at them but decided we really wanted to see the plants and animals outdoors. The park is situated in the Ocotillo Hills overlooking the city of Carlsbad below. There are nice paths that take you from one area to another probably a couple miles worth of walking. There are several outbuildings that house a nocturnal exhibit, an aviary, reptile house and a greenhouse.

Rattlesnake Safely Behind Glass

Bird of Prey

There even was an interesting geocache to be found on the property. It was a mystery style cache meaning the posted coordinates are not where the cache is. All we knew was we needed to find Pachypodium Lamerei and the cache would be nearby. Scattered all along the walking paths were elaborate plantings with many of the plants having a nameplate with both the common and Latin names of the plant. We kept a close eye out for the name we needed as we circumnavigated the property. 

Bright Flowers

Many of the animals were apparently in hiding. In the aviary, we only saw two birds even though there were lots of piles of fruits and seeds that seemed to have been recently put out. We had much better luck at the black bear's home. As we walked up, one of the zoo keepers was walking around the area with a bucket of various food items. She was placing them here and there, sometimes hiding the food under some object. It's as if she were staging a food search game for the bear. Sure enough, a minute after she disappeared, the bear, name Maggie, emerged from its holding area. She knew how the game worked and slowly wandered around the area in search of food. Much of the food was left alone apparently while it sought out the tastier items. A large apple was spotted in the big tree trunk and disappeared quickly. I like that the feeding of the bear was done in an entertaining way for both the bear and for us.

Maggie Finds Apple

Floating Flower

The prairie dogs were fun to watch as well. They too had just been fed so were out enjoying their meal. The larger pens on the east end of the park are where the mule deer, bison, pronghorn and elk are kept. By now we were more than halfway through the park and still hadn't found our elusive plant to get our geocache. A quick google search identified the plant as a succulent and we were in luck. The greenhouse was actually called the Succulents of the World Greenhouse.  Oh was it hot and humid inside. There was even a sign warning people with respiratory issues to stay out or at least limit their stay. We finally spotted the plant and recognized and odd looking "rock" nearby. We really enjoyed the place even though many of the animals seemed to be MIA. 

Prairie Dogs and Watermelon

Bison and Friend

Odd Flower

In the Greenhouse

We are almost becoming accustomed to the very windy conditions here in New Mexico. A short trip back north brought us to the little town of Artesia. They have a walking tour through town taking us by some (possibly all?) of the highlights. 

One of Several Cowboy Themed Statues

Nice Mural

Almost Two in Artesia

Optical Illusion

Beautiful Stonework

By the next day the wind had subsided and allowed us to visit another local attraction. Sitting Bull Falls is definitely off the beaten path. About an hours drive from the campground, you seem to be heading to the middle of nowhere and question if the GPSr is working properly. The recreation area is in the Lincoln National Forest and run by the federal government so our America the Beautiful pass saves us the $5 fee. For how remote this place is, we were impressed with how nice the area is. Paved parking lot, beautiful stone picnic shelters, restrooms with flush toilets. The area around the shelters was nicely landscaped and there were even sprinklers running! The area is day use only, but there is a single full hookup RV host site that was currently not occupied. I went over to check it out and noticed eight, 3 foot lengths of chain anchored into the concrete pad, four on either side of where the rig would sit. It made we wonder if theft was an issue here. I later found a worker moving the sprinklers around and asked him about it. The chains allow the host to chain their rig down to prevent blow over from the excessive winds they get back here! I think this is one jobs we won't be signing up for. 

Host SIte at Sitting Bull Falls with Chains

There is a short concrete path that goes back the 1/4 mile or so to the falls. For as dry as this area seems to be, we found it hard to believe there was as much water flowing as there was. Shortly after getting here, several more groups of people showed up. While I was taking pictures, I heard a splash and a scream behind me. A 10 year old boy had jumped into the small pool of water a bit below the falls. His scream was prompted by the coldness of the water. I'm not sure I have ever seen somebody get out of water that quickly. We explored beneath the falls trying to stay dry given our newfound knowledge. We could see a couple of people up near the top of the falls so we figured there must be a trail up to it. Sure enough, as we headed back to the picnic area, we saw the dirt/rocky path up to the top. There were a handful more people up here but there wasn't  a lot to do up here. The vegetation along the water got pretty thick rather quickly so there really wasn't a way to follow it to see where the water was coming from. So we headed back down and enjoyed our picnic in one of the shelters. 

Sitting Bull Falls

Do You See a Face?

Falling Water

Overlooking Picnic Shelters

The falls were neat but it wasn't much of a hike so we drove a mile from the recreation area and found a spot to park near trail number 226 or the Last Chance Canyon trail. It starts out as a old Jeep trail although I'm not positive I would want to put our Jeep through the abuse even if it is "Trail Rated" and in theory could make it. Eventually the trail becomes more of a single track and gets into an even prettier, greener area. We go through a cattle gate and find there is a lot of cow patties laying around but they all look to be pretty old so we doubt we will run into cattle grazing. There was a cache a couple miles back on the trail. It was up on a very rocky hillside so I placed my good DSLR camera on the ground for safe keeping. While I was signing the logbook, Chris caught my attention and pointed several hundred feet up the trail. A coyote was trotting towards us, at first oblivious to our being there. But it didn't take long before it spotted us and came to a stop. After a couple minutes, it approached a bit closer but decided we were not interesting enough to check out any closer. It headed off trail and we never saw it again. 

Water Along Last Chance Canyon

Views Along Trail

We continued on the trail another half mile or so before deciding to turn around and head back to the car. As we approached the cattle gate again, we spotted a good sized steer with impressive horns. He seemed to be on the wrong side of the barbed wire fence but he didn't stay put. Once he caught wind of us he abruptly turned and wandered off trail. Even after we gained some elevation along the trail, we could not spot him in the brush. 

Heading Back Along Trail

Small Pond in Canyon

At each stop along our travels, I will usually check to see if there are any mountain biking trails. There was one just south of Carlsbad called La Cueva. It shouldn't have been a big deal to get there but the major road to the trailhead was closed for construction and it seemed like every alternative route we took only ran back into the problem. I guess that's just part of the adventure of our nomadic lifestyle. Better dealing with it while driving the Jeep rather than the motorhome. The last quarter mile of dirt road to the parking area and trailhead probably should be on the town's list for construction. I was tempted to just park where it got back and mountain bike thru it since that is why we are here. 

We found the proper trailhead after going down the wrong one for a little bit. Initially the trail was nice. Not too rocky or sandy and pretty well marked or at least obvious enough based to not get lost. It didn't take long before we ran into climbs with rocks making the ride challenging to say the least. To make matters worse, much of the trail seemed to have a a side slope to it. Meaning if you accidentally went off trail you might find yourself going over the edge. Chris found herself walking much of the time and I had plenty of places where my common sense won over my machismo. Maybe that's the good thing with biking with Chris, she wouldn't be impressed if I made it thru a tough section. It was a long five mile ride and probably won't see the need to return if we are in the area again. As I got back to the "road", I headed up the hill a quarter mile further to look for a cache while Chris slowly made her way back to the car. Just after I gave up looking for the cache, I notice a tractor trailer with a tanker car coming up the road. Given I had questioned whether to drive the Jeep, I was impressed how well he did. There is an oil well just a little further up the hill and he was coming to pick up a load.

Along La Cueva Trail

Dry Stream Bed Along Trail

The weekend we were camping here, the Lyrid Meteor Shower was taking place. This is a fairly remote and dark area so I figured I would give it a shot. I set the alarm to go off at some insane hour and managed to get out to take a look. I set the camera up and faced northeast as instructed by the article I read. Then I sat in my chair and stared at the sky. It took ten minutes or so before I thought I saw something but even then I wasn't positive. I would readjust my viewing angle based on what I last saw. After about an hour I wasn't impressed. Maybe I was too early or too late? I later took a look at the ~100 frames I shot and found maybe 10 of them had what may be considered a meteor but the streak was faint, it probably didn't help that some high wispy clouds were rolling by while I was out there.

Lyrid Meteor?

When Monday rolled round, we headed to Carlsbad Caverns. It didn't seem too crowded but we didn't really have a point of reference. Maybe some of the reason for the small crowd is because the elevator is out of service. Apparently it broke a couple weeks prior to our visit and still wasn't fixed. All is not lost, there is the "natural entrance". A 1.25 mile hike will get you to the "Big Room" where all the interesting sights are. The entrance into the ground is much larger and impressive than I had imagined. There is a large seating area immediately outside the opening. This is the Bat Flight Amphitheater. There is a large bat cave about 200 feet below the surface and if we had only waited several weeks to come through the area we could have seen thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats exit the cave at dusk. As we headed down the endless series of switchbacks, we did have some wildlife to watch. There were hundreds of cave swallows darting in and out of the cave opening. With that many birds singing overhead, it sounded as if a recording of swallows was being played over a fancy loudspeaker system. 

Entering Carlsbad  Caverns

Bat Amphitheater

Starting Down Natural Entrance

Eventually we get past where the birds were flying and go past the nearly empty bat cave as we work our way further into the earth. The Big Room is over 750 feet below the surface. The lighting along the trail at many points is very limited. Occasionally we run into long sections of switchbacks as continue down. The people heading back up seem to be somewhere between tired and exhausted. In a couple hours we will be in their shoes. Maybe the elevator will be fixed by the time we want to head up.

Heading Down Switchbacks

Flowing Rock

They no longer offer ranger guided tours through the Big Room. I guess this is a good thing and a bad thing. We won't get to hear the stories from somebody that practically lives in the cave. But we get to go at our own pace and check things out as thoroughly or quickly as we want. They do have several additional ranger guided tours that range from $8 to $20 per person and take visitors to other sections of the cave but there is a bit of advance planning required. Maybe something for a return visit? The loop around the Big Room is another 1.25 miles but is generally flat on a paved path so there aren't tripping hazards or steps to contend with in the subdued lighting. All along the loop are signs explaining the geology of the cave or pointing out some of the features that have been given names. There is a lower cave that can be seen from an overlook along the loop. We saw a few people with hard hats and headlamps wandering around that portion of the cave guess they got on a special tour. 

Almost a Column

Big Ones

Amazing Detail

Small Pond

The Big Room definitely is big with lots to see. One of the more unusual things was a feature hanging from the ceiling that looked just like a lion's tail. If not for the sign there, we probably would have walked directly under it without realizing it was up there. It was nice that the place wasn't crowded. We asked one of the rangers if this was normal and she said for this time of year it was. All along the trails are phones that can be used to get help or report people touching or damaging the formations. We got through the Big Room and stopped for a snack at the rest area and lunchroom. Now for the fun part, heading back up to the surface. There are benches along the way but we actually found it to not be too bad of a climb. In just under an hour we had gotten back to daylight. The swallows were still flying around and discovered that standing beneath their flight path had the obvious downside. At least we weren't looking up with our mouths open!

Lion's Tail

Old Ladder to Lower Cave

Mirror Lake with Ripples

Chris Heads Up

We grabbed our lunch and had a picnic in the shade by the visitor center. We thought about staying for the bats at dusk, but the ranger warned us that we might be disappointed because there are so few bats here this early in the season. Guess the bat flight can be put on the list of things time more carefully if we make it back here. There is the Walnut Canyon Desert drive that is a 9.5 mile one way scenic route that sounded interesting. For some reason, the entrance gate was closed even though we got there well before it was to be closed for the day.

With that idea dashed, we headed out and drove a bit further south of the park looking for a place to boondock in the motorhome. Guadalupe Mountains National Park is about 35 miles south of Carlsbad Caverns. The place has some hikes we thought sounded good but it's a lengthy drive from our current campground. We had the lead on a few spots on BLM land just before entering Texas but we wanted to check them out before heading there with the motorhome. Good thing we did. The first one we tried was in the middle of a road grading project and the obvious spot that even had a fire ring was now behind a barb wire fence. The second spot had a nice looking spot just behind the "No Camping Beyond This Point" sign. The last spot could have worked except for the steep entrance angle off the highway. Not something we were willing to try in our rig. When we got back to the town of Carlsbad, we scoped out the Elks Lodge. It will work, but really only gains us 25 miles. Probably not worth the aggravation of moving for a couple days.

The next day was a hot one so we went for a morning hike just behind New Mexico State University at Carlsbad. The Ocotillo Trail is not a very long walk but got us out. Plus there were a few geocaches along the trail to keep us entertained. As we got within a hundred feet of the second cache, some muggles were coming down the hill so we paused to let them pass. It was two mothers with their two young boys. We asked if they had ever heard of geocaching. Since they hadn't, we gave them a brief description and asked if they wanted to help us find it. Each boy was handed our GPSr and told to follow the arrow down the side path. As we approached, the two mothers both saw the likely hiding spot even before Chris and I spotted it. We then encouraged the boys to check out that little mound of rocks and they discovered the container too. A few days later, I got an email from one of the mothers. She had setup an account and brought her boy back to sign in for themselves. I'll have to keep tabs on them to see how frequently they get out for a cache. 

We extended our stay at The Ranch an extra day so we could get up early to drive down to Texas and check out Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We knew a front was to move through overnight and cool things off but we're surprised to find not only was it chilly but it was actually precipitating. Probably best described as heavy mist or light drizzle so it wasn't bad. By the time we got to Texas, it hadn't rained at all but was overcast and chilly. Our first stop was to one of the more popular trails in the park. The McKittrick Trail is about 7 miles northeast of the main visitor center with its own entrance and visitor center with restrooms. You wouldn't know this is a popular hike from the parking lot. We were the only car there on what was admittedly a dreary, chilly Wednesday morning. The elevation here is just about 5000 feet and will only get higher as we hike up the canyon. How high will depend on how far we are willing/able to go. The ridge is an additional 2700 feet but we likely won't go that far. 

Visitor Center at McKittrick Canyon

Heading Back to Canyon

Dry Stream Bead

The trail is nice and well marked. It crosses back and forth over what starts out as a dry creek bed. A little further up, there is water flowing and it might be 20 feet across but it's not deep and there are plenty of stepping stones placed to make the crossing easy. At about the 2.5 mile mark, we get to Pratt Cabin. We were expecting a rundown building that was falling apart giving the remote location. What we found was completely unexpected. Rather than a log cabin, this one was built entirely of stone, including the roof surface.  Built in the early 1930's, it has stood the test of time. The park service has obviously taken good care of it based on the pallets of concrete mix in the covered outbuilding. The cabin was closed but peaking in the window makes me believe it is open at some times based on the guest register on one of the tables. 

Water In Crossing

Looing Up McKittrick Canyon

Pratt Cabin

Pratt Cabin

View at Pratt Cabin

Although the chairs on the big covered front porch looked inviting, we decided to push on. A mile beyond Pratt Cabin is The Grotto. There is a side path off the main trail to get down to it. It's an odd alcove in the hill with stalactites and stalagmites. Nearby are a couple all stone picnic tables. Several hundred feet further along the side trail is the Hunter Line Shack. Not nearly as nice as Pratt Cabin, but still worth a look if you've come this far. 

Approaching the Grotto

Looking in Grotto

Stone Picnic Table at Grotto

Hunter Line Shack

Chris Looks in Grotto

Back up to the main trail, we continue up the canyon. Things get a bit steeper but still manageable. We decided to go about another mile and look for a good place to stop to have our sandwiches. At about the 4.5 mile mark, we get to the point where we believe the trail gets very steep with numerous switchbacks. Since we already have a great view of the valley below we stop and have lunch. By now the clouds have just started to break and the sun makes an appearance. We each shed a layer for what will be a mainly downhill hike. We get all the way back the the area of the grotto before we run into other people. We stop again at Pratt Cabin and find four people have succumbed to the porch chairs with the pretty view they provide. We end up seeing a dozen people headed out along the trail by the time we get back to the visitor center. There was an earthcache that was part of the nature trail so even though we were beat from our 9+ mile hike, we figure it would be easy. Turns out the nature trail was more rugged than the main trail and was 0.7 miles long with several hundred feet of climbing involved. Probably should have skipped it but we survived. 

Interesting Flower

View at Lunch Spot

Green Mikweed

Clouds Clearing

View from Nature Trail

Our McKittrick Hike

We were pretty sure we had crossed into the Central Time Zone as we entered Texas or at least that's what our GPS and phones told us. But we figured the main visitor center just seven miles away would still be open. As we pull in and see the hours posted, we realize we only have a few minutes before closing. Just enough time to stamp our National Park passport. As it turned out the ranger told us they are in Mountain Time Zone (at least by convention if not by reality) so we actually have an hour before closing so we can at least wander through the visitor center. We weren't even tempted to try the nature trail here although it did look to be handicap accessible. Just a couple miles back north is the Frijole Ranch History Museum. We wandered around outside but the place was closed so no chance to see the actual museum. It was a long and tiring day but totally worth it. To bad there isn't better camping nearby, we could probably find other hiking trails to try.

Entering Main Visitor Center at Guadalupe Mountains

At Frijole Ranch

Museum at Frijole Ranch