A Second Look at Carlsbad Caverns

Hello again my imaginary Friend,

Perhaps if we are going to spend this much time together you might tell me your name? It is Sméagol, Gollum, or something else?

After we visited Carlsbad Caverns in January I made up some nonsense lines for a post because photos and words seemed completely inadequate. But I am stubborn. I do have some photos and as usual I'll make up the words as we go.

I'm new to visiting caverns, but in the New Mexico and Arizona areas I visited it was clear that the caverns, while underground, were also, in a way, above ground. Like a Telly Tubby Hill a mound of limestone rock had been created by geological events, left to tower above the surrounding terrain, and then hollowed out by water, chemistry, and time until a cavern was created. After the unstable bits fall down from above ("Avoid this stage of development" a guide offered (my interpretation of his words)), a structure is left behind that can be ornamented with the formations that dripping water, evaporation, and time will create. And then we can wander and wonder, and we can wish that we had brought our tripod for the camera. I'd be kicking myself over the last, if I had kept up with the yoga.
  

The dark hole is the Hellmouth, and this elaborate human display platter allows the ascending demons to browse and select the tastiest morsels as they set off to rampage the countryside.

Or, it could be seating so normal people could watch the resident bats emerge for a night of devouring nasty mosquitoes and other insects. I dunno. Any bats were in Mexico, wiser than I were they.

The descent was so much more than I expected. Down. Down, level out, down again. Switchbacks like in the photo above, but underground, and over and over. Awesome. I mean that.

This massive column is ancient. Imagine one drop of water seeping down through the earth above the cavern. Imagine it evaporating and leaving behind molecules of mineral. One or a few drops per day. That process built this formation.

Awesome.

A bunch of smaller formations that form in parallel can create fascinating patterns. This one looked like a whale's mouth to someone.

This is the view from the top of this hill. The cavern is beneath our feet.

The elevation above the surrounding terrain makes this an impressive hill, and it holds an impressive secret.

stay awesome,
j