The “Pop! Pop-pop-pop!” could still be heard when morning came. Oil processing is obviously a 24/7 business. While I was waking up, a guy drove around the carpark very slowly in his white Mercedes sedan. Strange, because I’d seen him last night and waved to him, he was an older guy. I kept my curtains drawn now and watched as he stopped right by the van as if deciding what to do next. He made a few laps then left. Creepy!
I drove through the town of Carlsbad again to get to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. On the way there, my phone constantly changed its mind about what time zone it was in since I was right on the border of Mountain and Central time. It was a seven mile drive into the park and you wouldn’t know from the surface that one of the largest caves in the world sat just below.
It was just before 9am, so the visitor’s center wasn’t too crowded, but everyone was asking about tours. When I found out you could tour the cave self-guided (for free!) I was keen. There was talk of the elevators making strange noises, so there was a chance they’d be shut down. This meant a lot of people didn’t go on the 10am tour for fear of not being able to get out via the steep trail. I went back out to the car, donned my shoes and off I went to the entrance. A very overweight lady ranger told me the rules and regulations and also suggested I take the elevator down, then walk up, since they might soon close. I thanked her for the advice, but decided to avoid the elevators altogether, more exercise for me!
The opening of the cave was huge, not like some other caves I’ve visited that would have been hard to find. Switchbacks wound down through the opening and into the darkness. Just after entering, I could hear the chirping and scratching of what I thought was bats, but turned out to be small birds. The cave echoed the pretty noises making sweet music as I descended. The trail was steep and it took a good twenty or so switchbacks to be out of the light coming in from the mouth.
The Carlsbad caves have very large rooms and so many features, more than I’ve ever seen. Of course, photos don’t work too well in the dark, but I was in awe from the very beginning. Considering people are allowed to wander through the caves on their own, everything is so well preserved, especially some tall, narrow stalagmites that have formed towers at least three times my height, right next to the trail. I descended ever further, trying not to look down at the trail, but up at the ceiling and the walls of the cave at the numerous features. The lighting in the cave was just enough to give the features the emphasis they deserved, while still maintaining the cave feeling.
At the bottom of the trail, which was one mile long and 755 feet down, the trail lead around “The Big Room”. They’re not kidding, it covers 8.2 acres and has a very high ceiling. Around the trail were multiple small pools of water. This is something I’d never seen before in caves and the water was clear as air. With nowhere to drain, the moisture from above simply forms these pools. They were beautiful. The main features of the big room are three huge towers, called domes. They reminded me of something I’d climbed in Tonsai, which had been about thirty meters high. These may have been more. They must have started as a stalactite/stalagmite pair, then grown to these giant pillars. It was amazing. The features continued throughout the rest of the room, all of them stunning.
The trails were just the right length. By the time I’d toured the Big Room, I was ready to get going. The elevators were functioning, but I stuck to my original plan of walking out the way I’d come. Damn, it was steep going back up, but I was seeing the cave from a different perspective. There were more people coming down now and they all seemed a bit surprised to see me and a couple of other guys walking up. It went by faster than I expected. Three-quarters of the way up, I saw the overweight ranger stopped and talking to some people. Once I got above her I noticed she was climbing up. Very, very slowly.
The brightness of daylight took some adjusting, but the fresh air was nice. Back inside the visitor’s centre, I found out the elevators never were shut down, so a shame about the people that had missed their tour. I drove out of the park, stopping to watch a group of curvy-horned deer digging holes with their horns to make a sleeping hole. Maybe I should have offered them my new shovel.
It was only a 30 mile drive south into Texas and the next national park – Guadalupe Mountains. The wind on the highway was fierce, so much so I feared for the bike that swayed violently on the roof. I couldn’t even get the Astro past 50 mph, trucks were blasting past me. I was grateful to see the entrance to the park. At the visitor’s centre, lots of people were huddled inside the entrance way eating their lunch out of the wind. Inside, I spoke to the two rangers there about the hike I’d planned with the map I got from Carlsbad. They immediately looked at the clock and said I should get going pretty soon if I wanted to finish it by night time. The advised the hike usually takes 6-8 hours.
I drove to the trailhead, packed my bag, downed a Clif bar and head off. I started out crossing a dry and very rocky river bed. The rocks were almost perfectly white and the trail suggested there hadn’t been a river here in many years. Across the river bed, I got onto the Tejas trail that lead me up into the Guadalupe mountains. Instead of hiking up Guadalupe Peak (8,751 ft), which is the top of Texas, I opted instead for Hunter’s Peak (8,368 ft), which is a few hundred feet short but meant I was hiking a loop instead of an out-and-back.
The mountains looked great in their mixture of greenery and orange/brown rock. Even better was the visibility of the trails, both in front of me and on the Guadalupe side. You could see the switchbacks snaking their way up to the tallest peak, not too dissimilar from those facing me. I saw no one on the trail as I climbed, completely lost in my thoughts. All the while, I was battling the wind, making sure not to lose my hat. When I neared the top of the Tejah trail, I was surprised to see a person and not only that, a ranger! He asked cordially if I was just doing a day hike, which meant there was no permit to check for, then wished me well after I’d asked him about the Guadalupe trail. Not a bad gig getting paid to hike all day.
The wind and climbing was tiring me out after I passed the third false summit. When I turned onto Bowl trail towards the peak, the wind became ever fiercer. I stopped for lunch at a trail intersection, then went on to find beautiful scenic spots where I could have sat and enjoyed the view, but oh well. I dropped my bag, ditched my hat and donned a jumper before heading out to Hunter’s Peak on a short side trail. I was not disappointed by the views, I could see a maze of small mountains spreading out south of me, the drive river bed snaking through them in a streak of white. In every other direction were the much taller mountains of the Guadalupe park, all of which can be explored. I didn’t stay long for fear of getting blown away and never seen again. I grabbed my pack and was happy to start my trek downwards.
Thankfully, Bear Canyon was mostly sheltered from the wind so I got a break from the onslaught. This trail was constructed of mostly rocky steps, while the way up had been a gradual slope. I’m glad I hiked in the direction I did. As I came out of the canyon and back to the riverbed, I scared a big group of deer who made all sorts of racket trying to get away from the fearsome Aussie in a pink jumper. Looking back at the mountains behind me, it was hard to believe I’d just been 2,500 feet higher. I slowed to a stroll as I crossed back across the riverbed, my legs and feet weary from my cave walk and peak walk. Maybe too much in one day?
As I always do, I smiled when I saw my Astro, happy that it was rest time. I registered to camp in the RV park right at the trailhead for $8, quite happy to go no further for the day. Shoes off, comfy pants on, a snack and some TV. Oh yeah. I didn’t move for the next two hours. I made dinner inside again thanks to the wind which went well. I didn’t last much longer, letting the van rock me to sleep around 8pm. I slept right through except when a particularly large gust of wind rocked me enough to wake me, but just as quickly as I opened my eyes, they closed again, until sunrise.