June 7: SW Road Trip Day 29: On to Carlsbad Caverns

We awake to sun in El Paso. The Weather App says it’s going to get hot today, so we intend to head out as soon as we pack. Just about done packing and the hotel’s Fire Alarm goes off! (I later learn that there were some issues with the pool equipment, which over-heated. Yes, the Fire Alarm was caused by the heat.) We vacate the hotel without our bags, but it’s not a complete waste of time as we cross the street to get some Subway sandwiches for a hike we will be taking later today.

Sandwiches in hand, we return to the hotel and all seems to be straightened out with the alarm. We pack the X3 and hit the road for the 2 hour drive to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. As soon as we get a little out of town, the traffic diminishes to almost nothing. We start to gain a little elevation. The drive into the National Park is beautiful.

Approaching the the Park

El Capitan

Amy has selected the 5 mile round-trip hike to the Pratt Cabin in McKittrick Canyon, at the east end of the park. We drive to the trailhead and see one other car in the parking lot, Maryland plates. The Ranger Station is closed, though there is a pay station to register to hike the trail. Amy and I are the only people around.

Start of the Hike to the Pratt Cabin

Dry Wash

The trail goes for about a mile along a dry creek bed. While on this path, we meet a young man leading his 3 children out of the canyon. It’s a great excuse to take a rest and chat (this part of the path is going a bit uphill). We find out that they are on a 5 month quest to visit all the Continental US National Parks (based out of Washington, DC: their’s is that car in the parking lot). The kids are really gung-ho for their trip. They all look so happy. Our little trip seems small by comparison, but the man congratulates us when we describe ours. We wish each other well and continue on.

After about a mile, we turn a corner and the streambed actually has water in it!

Water!

This canyon is pretty amazing. Moments ago we were in high desert with cactus and other very hardy vegetation. Now there are trees. Not cactus pretending to be trees, but maples and oaks and such. This is a bit of an oasis. We continue on and after 2.5 miles, we arrive at the Pratt Cabin.

Pratt Cabin

Pratt was a geologist for Humble Oil in the very early days. He was a careful fellow and after being introduced to this area, he saved up some money and joined with 3 partners to purchase the land in this canyon. In the crash of ‘29, he avoided getting burned (he was mostly out of the equities market) and bought out his partners, who were all in need of cash. Later, he and his wife summered in this canyon and eventually built the cabin. They retired to this corner of Texas and then built another home, called Ship-On-The-Desert, more easily accessible. Eventually, they gifted the canyon to the National Park Service for all to enjoy.

We eat a very satisfying lunch, take one more look around and head back to the trailhead. The hiking is much easier as we are going downhill.

Guadalupe Mountains from the Canyon

This has been a most welcome activity. The hiking is moderate, considering the heat, but we both feel really good to have completed the trail without mishap. The scenery is wondrous and surprising.

Back in the car, we drive the 25 miles to our next stop, Whites City. We check in to the Rodeway Inn. It is a little bit of a shock. Whites City is miniscule (population of 7 in the 2010 census). There appears to be one working motel and an RV Park. There are 3 restaurants, but 2 of them appear to be permanently closed. There is a little store, but it doesn’t sell any food that we would eat in our room for dinner. We’ll just have to make the best of it. We settle into our room and discover that the WiFi is “challenged”. It works for a bit, then disconnects and we can’t use it again.

We rest up from our exertions, then go to dinner at the one operating restaurant at about 5:00. The meal is edible, but it is safe to say that we aren’t eating here again (we will stay in this town one more night). After finishing dinner, we get into the car and head up to the top of the mountain for the second spectacle of the day.

The reason we are in Whites City is that it is 7 miles from Carlsbad Caverns. This is the closest spot anyone can stay to the Caverns; just a 20 minute drive up NM Hwy 7 to the Visitor Center. When checking in to the hotel, the front desk clerk told us we want to head up the mountain to be there about 7:00 for the Bat Flight.

We take his advice and 7:00 finds us in the Park’s Bat Flight Amphitheatre. We are just above the entrance to the Cavern; this is the prime spot to witness the nightly wonder of thousands of bats waking from their daytime sleep and shooting out of the Caverns in search of food. Several years ago, the Park had no constraints on people watching the Bat Flight. They allowed photography and did not hamper any behavior of the viewers who watched the Bat Flight, except to keep them safe from desert critters. They noticed over the years that the numbers of bats in the flight was steeply diminishing and decided to institute rules to make the bats habitat more natural. (Austin’s Bridge Bats are fine with strong lights. The Mexican Freetail Bats of Carlsbad Caverns does not like lights at all.) The rules have worked and the bat population has returned to pre-decline levels. A great example of the National Park Service being a good steward for all the residents of National Parks, not just the human visitors.

The downside is that there is no photography of any kind. Cell phones must be off. People must be quiet while the bats are exiting the cave. I have no pictures to show in this post, but I’m pretty sure I’m not a good enough photographer to have captured good images anyway. The rules are actually a blessing in disguise, as it makes us focus on the bats, not on getting pictures of the bats. The Flight is one of the more amazing natural phenomena that I have witnessed. Those little guys are really fast and are not easy to see, but it is a really beautiful sight with them swarming to the southwest. There was a full moon on our night, so it was a bit more impressive and our ability to see the flight went on longer than usual.

Having enjoyed the Bat Flight, we quietly leave the amphitheater. Bats will continue to emerge for another hour or so. We return to the car for a quiet drive down the hill back to our motel room.