carlsbad caverns and guadalupe mountains

It was 3-4 hours from White Sands to Carlsbad Caverns, with a couple detours in the middle, including a speeding ticket for me (the start of one of the worst stretches of bad luck I've ever had--more on that later) and lunch at the worst-run Taco Bell I've ever seen. The drive was otherwise smooth and fairly interesting, with changes in terrain from the desolate desert wastes of White Sands to mountains with pine forests to more desert, but this time heavy with sagebrush.

We had both been to the caverns before, but came away no less impressed. Taking pictures inside is a bit challenging, particularly on a busy day like we experienced, which made using a tripod impossible in most instances. Still, a lot of shots came out, which is great.





















Being in the cave was a nice break from the 105F temperatures outside, which were bearable only because the air was so dry. That said, we had to wait in line for 1.5 hours, surrounded by loud-mouthed morons, rednecks and the like. I think I'd rather just deal with the heat.

When we were done at Carlsbad, we got back on the road and headed in the direction of Las Cruces. Since it was on the way, we stopped in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, a little known park in the very western edge of Texas. When we got there, my dad decided to hang out in the car while I wandered around in the bushes for a while. One of the first things I saw was the ruins of an old outpost that was used as a stop along a trail out west, a la Pony Express.



Since it was hot and getting dark, I didn't wander around too long. Here's what the surrounding area looked like:



We drove to another nearby location so that I could walk around some more. About 10 yards into the trail, I was startled by some rustling in the bushes--too bad the little lady wasn't around for me to push out in front and take the brunt of the attack. Anyway, it turned out to be this:



I walked a bit further, then realized it wasn't just the one deer, but rather five of them. I had never seen so many together at the same time, so it was a pretty cool sight.



It was starting to get dark, so I only spent about 20 minutes on the trail before walking back to the car so that we could drive back to Las Cruces.

The sunset that evening was different than any I had seen before:



The unusual colors were probably a result of all the dust and salt in the air (there were salt flats nearby). Very cool.

Bad luck struck again right after we crossed the El Paso city limits. I was slowing down, as required by the posted signs, when I got pulled over again. I had seen a few signs many miles out of town stating that the speed limit was lower at night, but hadn't seen anything for a while, so had just been driving my usual 4-5mph over the posted limit. So, the cop said I was actually 14-15mph over the speed limit. He asked me a ton of questions about what I was doing in TX, where I was from, my occupation, shoe size and favorite type of M&Ms, then let me off with a warning. That could have been yet another expensive ticket, so I was grateful.

We hit a gas station and Taco Bell again, then drove back to Las Cruces. A long day, but we saw some great stuff.