A Journey Underground at Carlsbad Caverns

       We left San Antonio and headed West on I-10 through miles and miles of Texas oil fields (too many oil rigs to keep count) and headed for Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico,  In 1930, Congress created Carlsbad Caverns National Park. It has since become one of the world's most celebrated  cave systems and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1995. The park has since expanded and now includes 46,766 acres and over 100 other caves. We spent two hours on a self-guided tour  of the 1.25 mile Big Room Route after descending the 750 ft. to the cave itself. Fascinating tour.From the visitor's center we could 130 miles that day - the ranger said that was a rare event as their is usually haze out over the miles of vast land. The ranger said you can only see that distance one or two times a year. Carlsbad also gets snow at least once a year. There were signs of plants sprouting buds - just as we saw in San Antonio - we were told by the locals that it was a sign of an early spring - a month early actually.    

      The next morning we headed on back into West Texas to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Guadalupe Mountains highest elevation is 5, 695 - no snow to be seen anywhere on the mountains. The only town near by is White's City - more of a one block tourist location - motel, restaurant, gas station and trading post with a no frills first come-first serve campground. Our plan was to drive on into Deming, New Mexico for the night. The drive was 135 miles to El Paso, TX with no gas stations -(we had fueled up in Carlsbad before leaving)- the views were beautiful.

      From Deming, we continued on to Arizona for our stay in Tucson. Looking forward to hiking and enjoying the desert.