Caverns to Mountains on the New Mexico-Texas Border

 

In which Moominmama visits the Guadalupe Mountains, going underground at Carlsbad Caverns and hiking up McKittrick Canyon...

Moominmama is mildly claustrophobic, which makes visiting caves slightly problematic. But Carlsbad Caverns are so large, it's more like walking into a cathedral than crawling through tunnels. 

Taking the mile and a quarter path down into the caverns is to step down into a palace of wonders. Even the descent itself, along myriad switchbacks, is fascinating as the daylight grows more and more dim, and the strange calcite features become visible.

The pathway down serves a double purpose as the entrance and exit door for thousands of Brazilian free-tail bats, who have a roost and a nursery in one of the many side caves. Moominmama arrived in this area just as the bats are migrating from Mexico and got to sit in an amphitheater just above the cave entrance at dusk to watch them fly out for a night's feeding. They eat moths and beetles, including bugs that damage crops so they serve a valuable purpose. 

Carlsbad Caverns houses a nursery where later this spring, the females will birth their "pups," (typically just one per mother per year) and then tuck them on the ceiling as they fly out to feed, each returning to nurse her own offspring, recognizing it by sound and smell.

Walking through the cavern, we are asked to move quietly and to keep our voices down. The dim light, the hush, the towering ceilings and the strange statuary give the space a Notre Dame-like feeling -- only with crazy sea monster sculptures not saints. 

The magic of the caverns began thanks to the inland sea that covered what's now most of the desert southwest during the Permian era (which would end in a mass extinction about 250 million years ago). 

A reef formed underwater made of algae and sponges that accumulated and compressed lower layers into what's now limestone. Tectonic lift eventually cut this area off from the larger inland sea until the Permian Basin water evaporated, leaving fossils and minerals behind. 

Underground, some of these minerals dissolved and mixed with bacteria, creating sulfuric acid that hollowed out the rocks like Swiss cheese. Tectonic forces pushed parts of the reef further upwards. And underneath the ground, rain water continued its drizzle further dissolving the minerals, releasing them in drips to shape not just stalagmites and stalactites but all the strange sculptures in the caverns as well.

This is actually the same chemistry that formed the Guadalupe Mountains, also limestone, and the remains of the Permian reef where it was thrust above ground. The entire area is famous for its many undersea fossils.

Here's the reef as you see it from below. The canyons here were created by thousands of years of water running down the reef. While the south-facing slopes look rocky, with sparse vegetation, the north-facing slopes, especially along McKittrick Canyon, are lush with tall trees.

To hike up the canyon is to witness a transformation from the dry Chihuahuan desert to an almost northeastern woodlands! It reminded me of hiking in Letchworth State Park. I even found maples trees here!

Starting the hike along a stony wash, I ended up walking through leafy tunnels like this one, pictured below, and crossing a small creek with crystalline water.

It came as absolutely no surprise to me that someone fell in love with this area. Wallace Pratt, an oilman, bought the land and built a beautiful stone house at the intersection of two canyons in 1931, near, at the time, a pool that had formed thanks to a natural limestone dam on the creek.

The house has a front porch with amazing views, and we are lucky that Pratt donated all of his property for the national park in 1961. 

The house remains intact and has been furnished in the style of the time. You can see in through the windows, and perhaps the park service opens the house up to supervised visits on other days.

But it was enough for me to peer in and to sit on the porch for a picnic lunch to appreciate Pratt's wisdom in building here and sharing what he loved with the rest of us.

When Moominmama was not out exploring and had errands to run, she headed to the town of Carlsbad, about 20 miles up the road from the caverns.

There she found a delightful library with an entrance that faced out on a lovely municipal square with a small fountain and playful sculptures.

Inside the library, the seating choices included diner-style booths, each equipped with electrical outlets. Very inviting and comfortable, and where most of this blog post was written!