03/09/2005 to 03/12/2005
George & I love caves but we'd never seen Carlsbad. This trip corrected that error in our touristing career. We headed out on the morning of 03/08/05. Nice weather, sunny days, no rain.
Our wanderings took us first to Whites City, just outside of Carlsbad where we spent the night. Then to the Caverns, Sitting Bull Falls, Roswell, White Sands Monument, City of Rocks, Silver City, and finally Whitewater Canyon Catwalk
- Carlsbad Caverns
- Sitting Bull Falls
- Roswell & White Sands
- City Of Rocks
- Santa Rita Mine & Pinos Altos Ghost Town
- Whitewater Canyon & The Catwalk
Carlsbad is not the most colorful cave we've ever seen, but it is very large and has some interesting formations. The weirdest thing was the gift shop and cafeteria inside the cave.
We did the Natural Entrance and Big Room self-guided tour. That was really nice. You go at your own pace, no big crowd to hurry you. I wish more caves offered that.
Carlsbad Caverns Sign
This is The Natural Entrance. Lots of swallows, but too early for the bats to be back
Look closely and you can see how delicate this formation really is
This is called The Lion's Tail for obvious reasons. Never seen anything like it any place else
A rather impressive display of soda straws
This was the most surreal thing I've ever seen. A gift shop and cafeteria inside a cave. Really strange
Sitting Bull Falls is in the Lincoln National Forrest.
Even though there's no real connection to Chief Sitting Bull, and no one knows why it's called Sitting Bull Falls, it's still a nice park somewhat off the beaten path.
It's very quiet and has some little picnic areas.
We arrived rather late in the afternoon so the light was not optimal, but the falls were very pretty and it's worth the trip.
If you're in the neighborhood you have to visit Roswell.
Naturally we went to the Alien Museum as any good tourist should.
Schlock at it's best, but fun.
Then on to White Sands.
Boy, is that something
The famous Alien Museum. The little guys is lying there for all to see, along with all the conspiracies
This was really cute. All the street lamps in the area look like this
This was hysterical. Alien Resistance!!! It's actually a Starbucks. Look closely at the signs
Our first stop was Big Dune Trail. The white sand is actually gypsum, and it's really WHITE & BRIGHT
This should give you some idea of how white and huge this area is
They sell or rent round slides so kids can slide down the dunes
Looks like a road plowed free of snow doesn't it?
Road before plowing. The paved road eventually ends, but before it does they quit clearing off the white
This was our second hike, and we weren't sure we were coming back
There's a lot of white out here and it goes on forever
See those dunes? Well, some of the ones we went up and down were over 30 feet high
Those little orange tipped stakes are the trail guides
Where's Beau Geste and the Legion when you need them?
You'd expect a tribe of Touareg warriors to come over the dunes at any moment
The nice gentleman in Demming, NM recommended City of Rocks.
How could we resist a bunch of rocks? So, off we went.
It's sitting out in the middle of a valley, all that's left from some ancient volcanic eruption.
It was a great place to climb around.
The boys would have loved this when they were young.
This is The City of Rocks. Besides a lot of rocks, it's a RV and campsite.
These looked like 2 Fat Men
Naturally there's a balancing rock
George gave this an anatomical name. Since this is a family site I won't tell. Just use your imagination
Looks like it's got little people uner it and all you can see is their feet
After playing around in The City Of Rocks we headed to Silver City.
On the way there we passed the Santa Rita Copper mine.
It's absolutely huge!
See that truck down there?
It's one of those really big ones with tires the size my house, but it's dwarfed in that mine.
We also made a side trip to Pinos Altos.
It's listed as a "ghost" town, but it's still occupied, although sparsely.
Look down at the road. See the truck?
Pinos Altos was once the Grant County Seat and a big mining town.
This is The Hurst Church since it was built with Hurst money
The old Opera House
The Saloon was doing a good business that day.
This was another suggestion of the gentleman in Demming, and another very good suggestion it was.
The walk through the canyon consists of well maintained paths, steps constructed from natural stone when possible, and this marvelous catwalk.
The scenery is just wonderful and the little hike is only 1.1 miles each way, so even though there are some steps and stairs, it's not hard and well worth the trip out to it.
The official park sign
Just a litle about the picnic area
Some of the more "natural" stairs
Yes, the stairs. These are a little side trip down to the old bridge
A nice shot of part of the catwalk. Note the anchors in the wall
This was a nice suspension bridge. Yes, it will sway
Looking back from the end of the trail.