World United States New Mexico Carlsbad

Travels to the Southwest-Fall 2009

Carlsbad Caverns Oct 14, 2009

Today we planned on a great day at Carlsbad Caverns. Especially since we had a flat tire on the trip to Carlsbad but got that changed without alot of issues. We had the right jack and a good spare. An oilfield service crew stopped to help us and they had a great air compressor to air up the spare. It is always great to meet friendly people on the road.

The drive out to the Caverns was nice and the "topside" weather was great! The sky was blue and the weather cool. In the Caverns we did the Big Room self tour and enjoyed all the sights and rock formations. In the afternoon, we took a guided tour of the other areas of the caverns. Since we were in the caverns for about 3 hours, the 66 degree temperature was getting a little cool even with jackets. We came out about 4PM and were waiting for the bat flight when the word went out that the bats were leaving. Along with many other folks, we made it down to the natural opening and watched the bats leave for their evening of eating insects. It was a nice ending to a great day.