Southwest US Travel 2019 (6) - Carlsbad and Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Changde Wu 2020-03-09
Carlsbad National Park and Guadalupe Mountains National Park are located in the same mountains, Guadalupe Mountains, despite in different states, the former in New Mexico, and the later in Texas. They are close enough to be visited together in one trip. The primary attraction of Carlsbad National Park is a huge limestone cavern, while Guadalupe Mountains National Park is the mountains in desert.
(1) Carlsbad National Park
Carlsbad National Park is located in the SE of New Mexico on the edge of Guadalupe Mountains. Is include a caverns, wildness area around the caverns, and a historical district, i.e. Rattlesnake Springs Historic District. The caverns are among the largest, longest, and deepest caverns in the world, with 83 caves, a total cave surfaces area of 189 square km. Carlsbad Cavern, from which the park's name come, is the heart of the cave of the park. There are other caves can be visited from the canyon trails. Yes there are other longer, deeper caves are still in exploration and not opened to public. The visitor center is located on the edge of the mountains, overlooking the desert under the foot. Visitors can either take elevator from the visitor's center to the floor of the cavern bout 230 m below, or walk along the natural entrance. The Big Room chamber, once claimed to the biggest in the world, is very spacious compared to other caverns I visited before. The chambers are illuminated with plain light, and the lighting condition is rather dim so photographing with handhold is challenging. As with all limestone caverns, the formations inside are carbonate deposits with generic name of speleothem, include stalactite, stalagmite, flowstone, pillars, and helictite.
(2) Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Guadalupe Mountains National Park in one of the few national park in Texas. While it is valuable for outdoor recreation, its scenery is average among the many national parks. I was only impressed by the view outside the SW corner along the Rt. 62.
Southwest US Travel 2019 (5) - White Sands National Park 