We woke up to another chilly and
windy day in Carlsbad, just the perfect day to spend in the Cavern. The last
time we were here it had snowed and there was about 8 inches on the ground when
we pulled into our campground. We toured the cave the next day and the
temperature was about 65 degrees when we left the cave, today we had sun and a
high of 65 degrees. The temperature in
the cavern is a steady 56 degrees with a high humidly.
We were lucky to get in on a ranger lead tour
of the Kings Room; this is an area that cannot be visited without a ranger. The
tour takes about an hour and forty five minutes and goes through the Kings Room,
the Queens Room, and the Green Lake. The pictures Rich took don’t do justice, you
just can’t capture the depth and the size of this cavern, and it is just incredible.
We started the tour with a high
speed elevator ride down 750 feet (75 stories). We left the elevator and
entered an area so large there was a restaurant, restrooms built right into the
cave walls, a small gift shop and a waiting area where we met our tour leader.
After a few words from him about cave behavior we started our tour with another
descend of 8 stories, we are now about 850 feet below ground.
As we walked from area to area we
learned about the history of the Caverns, how they were discovered and used in
the past, we also had an opportunity to experience total darkness when the tour
guide cut the lights. I felt very uncomfortable as I have terrible claustrophobia
and that extreme darkness really kicks in the old anxiety. Actually, I haven’t
been in darkness like that since our son Jeff turned out the lights on a tour
we took of Wind Cave in South Dakota when he was about 10 years old that sure surprised
the ranger on that tour. Needless to say Carlsbad Cavern is just unbelievable, it’s
like one of the places you have to see before you die, which Richard almost did
on the way out. Because the wait to take the elevator back to the surface was over
an hour I talked Richard into walking out. The ranger said it was an easy
uphill climb; many switch backs, for 750 feet... HE LIED!!!! IT WAS NOT EASY!!!
We ended up walking up with the same group of people and all congratulated each
other when we finally reached the top. We then treated ourselves to lunch at Chilies
and put back all the calories we had just walked off.
In the cave with the lights out
Finally OUT
