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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

A Walking Tour of Carlsbad Caverns in Southeast New Mexico

The elevators that take visitors into Carlsbad Caverns are broken.  Eric's reservations for a special tour were canceled.  No worries....  Carlsbad Caverns has access through a natural entrance.





Eric in front of the Carlsbad
Caverns National Park
Visitor Center.




Visitors line up & get
their tickets to tour
the Caverns here.




The amphitheater & the
Natural Entrance to 
Carlsbad Caverns.







Local Indians and settlers knew about Carlsbad Caverns.  Jim White is credited as the "first explorer" of the Caverns in 1896.





Visitors hike down a series
of switch backs to the
Natural Entrance to
the Caverns.






Check out the stalactites...








The temperature in Carlsbad Caverns is 56 degrees Fahrenheit.






Stalagmites grow from the
Caverns floor.







Caverns are growing, changing environments.  The water that drips in the Caverns continue to add to its formations.





This formation is
sooo delicate.




Accent lighting shows off
the Caverns subterranean
structures.







Anyone see a multi-armed mythical creature on the far right?





Eric & me in the
Green Lake
Room.




Dripping water over thousands
of years created these
beautiful underground
landscapes in The Great Room.
.






Water pooling here
reflects adjacent
formations.






This stalagmite tower
has delicate features.








Eric reaches up to touch
The Temple of the Sun....

It's just out of
reach.









Does this formation look
like a super villain to you?







These stalactites remind
me of the formation I
saw in Niagara Cave
in Harmony, Minnesota.




This formation looks
like a bearded
dragon to me.

It's official name is




A drapery of delicate,
water formed rock
clings to the Caverns
walls.






The Dolls Theater is made up
of hollow stalactites, called
"soda straws" & delicate
columns.





This formation looks like
frosting on a cake,
run amok.




Visitors can purchase
beverages, snacks.tee
shirts & sweat shits.





The elevators that are
currently out of order.








Eric and I start our walk back to the surface.  It goes faster because I'm not stopping to take pictures every twenty feet.





During our ascent, Eric & I
 see a stairway that brought
early visitors down into
the Caverns.














We return into the
afternoon sun...







What a walk... It's about a mile and a half down to the Great Room and then the walk back up, up up...

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