A Wet Desert

The past few days have been very wet for where we were. From talking to a couple of people, they normally get something like 5 to 6 inches of rain a year in lovely Southern New Mexico. I think we got that by mid afternoon day before yesterday and it hasn't stopped since then.

When it started, luckily our day was planned around going into Carlsbad Caverns and wandering around. Originally I was going to take the boys on one of the various guided tours of the cave system, but everything was booked up solid. So, we did the self-guided tour which turned out to be just fine. If you haven't been, I highly recommend visiting the cave. Don't let anyone talk you into just taking the elevator down though. Go ahead and walk down through the natural entrance. It is about an hour of walking. Yes, it is a bit rough on the knees if you are not used to hiking, but it is quite the trail. Here is a picture from my cell. Sorry about the quality of the picture, not much light down there for some reason.



Once you get to the "bottom" section, you will emerge at what used to be a full service cafeteria. They discountinued cooking years ago because the grease and smoke were building up on the cave ceilings and causing damage. Now you can get a box lunch and drinks, etc.

The rest of the tour is about an hour and takes you through the "Big Room";it is the largest open cavern area in the western hemisphere according to the signs. You could put over 13 football fields in this one section. It is HUGE!

Anyway after caving we drove over to Guadeloupe National Park and the rain letup for a bit. So we hiked a little over two miles to Smith Springs which is by Frijole Ranch. If you could get internet access at the ranch, I could live there. *smile* Very nice. A small oasis in the middle of the desert just below El Capitan.

After the hike, we were going to go watch the bats emerge from Carlsbad Caverns but the rain started back so intense the boys and I decided it wasn't worth drowning for.

When we got back to camp, our tents were of course flooded. Apparently the tent area at Carlsbad KOA is smack in the middle of the drainage area for their hundred year flood plan.

So, we spent the night sleeping in the laundry room on the floor.

We packed up first in the morning and headed over to Alamogordo with a brief stop in Roswell New Mexico. Of course we had to visit the local museum dedicated to the alien crash of 1947. Let's just say there are some odd folks visiting that place. It was interesting and I think something did crash, I just don't know what.

The boys found the local junk yard more interesting. We may have found a source for some fenders for Zachary's truck at one of them. Hopefully the owner calls me back with pricing that is reasonable once shipping has been added.

Once we finally made it to our next campsite, the fellow here at the Alamogordo Campgrounds (Casey) felt sorry for us and upgraded our tent reservation to one of the small cabins they have. He said he had "been there" and could appreciate the desire to dry out and sleep on a real bed. We spent the evening watching a movie at the local movie theater.

With the rain, visiting White Sands today will probably be a bust. Casey told me that the sand wasn't really sand but gypsum. And when you get gypsum wet it just turns to goo. Oh well, we'll go see and head on to our next stop, Gila National Park where the cliff dwellings are located. Even with the rain, we are having fun!


Time to pack up and head out. Until next time!