Day 1: American Southwest Road Trip!
The Next Morning I Drove Back out to the dunes! Seeing them in this light was just as magical though much colder. The weather had the potential for snow flurries and the 28 degree air was a harsh reality check that had me packing up long before my eyes had had there fill of the other worldly beauty.
Now before we move on lets talk about parkatecture. This building felt so amazingly woven into the area and the original national monument sign was so much better than the new park sign! Can we get back to that hand carved feeling for our NPS system?!?!
The exploration continued as I headed into the Lincoln National Forest. I got to stop off and see the Cloud-Climbing Railroad Official Scenic Historic Marker! You can see the snow near te track and if you look back you can still see the glint of the gypsum dunes! Also the little town of cloud croft is one of the few places you can buy jetboil fuel if you are like me and forgot your converter so that you can have hot coffee on your trip...
But Lincoln National Forest was just a pit stop on the way to our next stop. The route took me through the permian basin oil fields. Where fire and oil rigs lined the road.
The Travel was worth it as I made it on time to Carlsbad Caverns National Park for my 1300 timed ticket into the cave! Also the parkatecture here was FANTASTIC!
You start by walking down seeing and the bat flight ampitheater (seasonally open) and then you enter the cave!! I am not gonna write many notes here cause it just felt other worldly and the photos do not do the cave justice.
Into the dark zone!
So this is the first cave I have been in that has a working cafeteria... It was put in in the early days and is still in operation, Much to the joy of some racoons that made there way past the dark zone and into there new habitat and much to the dismay of many conservationist.
After the rest I took off exploring more of the cave loop!
I rode the elevator up and got to watch an amazing sunset before I headed off in the dark to Guadalupe Mountains National Park to make camp.
Thoughts? Reach out at: mythoughtsofindigo@gmail.com