Wednesday May 31, 2023
Anna and I slept in a little later than our typical day on this trip and then got up and ate our hotel breakfast while our parents packed up their stuff in the room.
We drove from Deming, New Mexico to Carlsbad, New Mexico, where we would adventure into the Carlsbad Caverns. The scenery on the route changed frequently driving through the Guadalupe National Forrest and near the border. The Forrest had tall and green plant covered mountains, while the other parts were more desert like.
After driving about 3 hours to Carlsbad Caverns, it was time to tour the cave! This experience was most definitely one of the most interesting ones on the trip. As you start to descend into the cavern it gets darker and cooler, giving it an eerie feel. The trial that goes down into the caverns was far longer than I expected it to be, it felt like it went on forever! This hike in my opinion had the most interesting scenery, the different rock formations were really neat.
Anna and I hiked ahead of the parents and stopped for a few pictures inside the cave. Once the four of us met at a point near the bottom of the cavern, we stopped at the restroom and then walked about another half-mile into the Big Room. They say three U.S. Capital buildings can fit in this vast area.
My mom decided to walk further into the cave, while my Dad, Anna and I headed towards the gift shop and exhibits. One thing that is especially nice about Carlsbad Caverns is that they have an elevator for those who opt not to hike up the seventy-five story building path to the top. We chose the elevator.
After we made our purchases in the gift shop, we left Carlsbad Cavern in hopes to find a dinner. However there seems to be about two restaurants in the town of Carlsbad… neither of which were open. So, we that meant sandwiches out of the cooler while the laundry washed in the laundromat.
Once laundry and dinner was complete, our last adventure of the day was about to commence. Carlsbad Caverns is home to thousands of bats that take flight out of the cave each night before dark. Now, I was never a huge fan of bats until know, they are really interesting creatures. Some of there most interesting features are the ability to hang up-side down, their echo location system and most importantly the role they play in keeping mosquitos to a minimum. The Carlsbad bats eat approximately four tons of insects each night… no wonder there are not many flying bugs in the desert. They are also responsible for pollinating plants such as avocado, cacti, cashew trees and agave which is used in tequila.
The flight of bats is truly amazing and worth the wait to see! About 10-15 minutes before dark the bats began to fly. They would fly out to the entrance of the cave and form a tornado like shape as they rose in elevation. Then, they would began to fly to the right side of the cave and off into the distance. Once there were multiple groups they created a “stream” bats in the air that almost looked like smoke from a distance as they parted ways to the left and right. There were so many bats it almost looked like butterflies in the sky. We watched the flight for about fifteen minutes and as we left it was still happening. They did not allow pictures because something about the phone could interfere with the bat’s echolocation system so, unfortunately there will not be any pictures of the bats.
The four of us loaded up into the mini van and drove about four hours until we arrived at our hotel in a small Texas town at midnight.
Wednesday was definitely one of our most unique and fun adventure days! Thursday will be an evening spent in San Antonio!
Leave a Reply