Carlsbad, New Mexico

Today I am in Carlsbad, New Mexico. I went to Carlsbad Caverns yesterday. I did the "natural walk in", which means about 1 mile down hill. It took about an hour, so I took the elevator up, and intend to go back in a little while and take the elevator back down and finish the tour, about another mile.

It is creepy in there!!!!!! Thankfully the "Bat Tunnel" is not open to the public! There are approximately 200,000 bats in there during the day. The bat shit is 40 feet deep! OMG OMG OMG!!!!!

I kept thinking about the guys that explored the cave. Imagining what it was like without all the paved sidewalks, handrails, and more importantly, lights. The lights are more like mood lights, not brightly lit, but light enough to see the cool stuff. It is a cool 56 degrees all the time. Quite refreshing when it is almost 100 degrees outside.

There is a point in the cave called the "twilight zone." It is where natural light can no longer penetrate the cave. I'm glad I was not on the guided tour, where they turn the lights out. I was nervous enough without that.

I went back at dusk to watch the "bat fly". All 200,000 bats fly out to feed. Someone said it was beautiful, but I had serious doubts about that. Bats and beautiful can never be in the same sentence, surely. I wouldn't call it beautiful, but it was kinda amazing. The bats flew out maybe 25 to 100 at a time. They are small, only about the weight of three nickels, and only about the size of two child's hands when they are flying. Cameras were not allowed unfortunately. Neither was talking. Apparently bats don't really like people, or unnatural noise. Since it is their house, we have to respect their wishes. I must say, the feeling is mutual. I don't much like them either.