Our route:
(top left in red: our route in 2006)
morning blowing in the university town of Alpine A strong wind from the west that lasts all day. We drive max. to tip over 55 miles per hour. because the RV is susceptible to cross winds and when a truck passed us, is imminent. We visit the Fort Davis, a large-scale military fortress which is now established as a National Monument-consuming again. The story is here (in Texas!) Worked differently than in the western United States. The presentation of the Indians reminds too much of cheap westerns. We will then move us into a canyon and then into the Wild Rose Pass into the vast, barren plateau, with nests as Pecos. There is no rest stop on the road. So we eat by 14 clock in Orla, a small ghost town, something small and then continue the same.
Near Carlsbad, we turn into the # 62 and reach even 16 clock (thanks to Mountain Time, we gain an hour) White's City at the entrance to the Carlsberg Caverns National Park, we have some trouble getting a decent place on the to find Campground. Everything is neglected. Either of electricity or the water does not, dog waste is on the lawn, instead of the toilet doors have just torn down curtains, the only group showers. Internet reception is useless. Here live in rickety, barely roadworthy RV's obviously marginalized, unkempt people with rotten teeth and greasy hair. After the well-kept Place in Alpine, a cold shower! Finally, we find on the 'pull through' an acceptable place. An old, toothless man who lives in an RV and works at the gas station there, kindly provided an additional seal with which we can make the water connection finally sealed. For dinner, there are organic food in the microwave oven: salmon with broccoli and cranberry rice.
drive it with a shuttle we light the 6.8 miles to the Visitor Centre of the caves. RV's are not allowed. The huge parking lots will soon be overflowing!
Of the three possible tours in the cave system we do today two, the third, led by a ranger, we have booked for Sunday 10 clock. We rise with audio guide, which provides us with valuable information through the wide entrance in many switchbacks descend to 230 m below the surface.
The approximately three miles of roads are paved, secured by a low wall and a continuous rail, mostly wheelchair accessible. After an initial one and a half hour tour through the 'Corridor', we take the lift a brief minute, the 230 m within again. After a lunch in the restaurant and a short film show we take the lift back down to our second hike to the Big Room '. This hall is as big as 14 football fields and up 100 m high.
The Caverns are located in the northeastern foothills of the Guadeloupe Mountains, which here rises about 300 m of the seemingly immeasurable level, which we crossed yesterday. This level was 250 million years ago an enormous lake (inland sea), on whose banks formed from various organisms (molluscs and algae) a reef, which took off after the silting of the lake from the plane as karst mountains. 60 million years ago ate acids (hydrogen sulfide gas), the depth of the present in the oil and gas layers came up and mixed with the leaking water, holes in the limestone. 3 million years ago formed a 150 km long penetrating Wasseer cave system and let come up blankets. The largest boulder that came loose from the ceiling, is the Iceberg Rock, a 200,000-tonne structure. Because such a collapse occurs only once every million years, we feel relatively safe. Since colored minerals largely absent, the structures are (stalactites, stalagmites, etc.) mainly of a white color, but some have reddish (iron) or black crossed (manganese). The temperature in the cave is through a constant exchange of air is always 13 degrees, humidity 90%. Therefore, bacteria that feed on the stone, and small organisms living well.
beginning of the 20th Century saw one evening, the 16-year-old Jim White rise in the distance, black clouds, which he regarded as the smoke of a fire. Because fire can be devastating in this arid region, can see he was going. The alleged smoke were hundreds of thousands of bats that flew out from an opening in the floor. Curious, he climbed with a homemade ladder into the depths and explored in the following years, more than 100 visits a large part of the cave system available today. The bats also use today, from spring to autumn this cave as a resting and nesting site during the day. At night they eat insects and produce 2.5 tons during the day a suitable amount of guano. The bats spend the winter in Mexico. This guano built from Jim and drove it for commercial citrus groves in California. He also left curious tourists (of course, empty) guano buckets on a rope winds down into the cave and offered guided tours. Later, wooden stairs were built. A cave tour was slow and took 5 hours. Soon, these caves a national park in 1952, four lifts installed. Today, the Carlsbad Caverns world cultural heritage.
The next day - it's Easter - we take a guided tour of the fantastic "decorated" Kings Palace. The atmosphere in the underground halls is overwhelming. We experience moments of complete darkness and silence. In this Space were also shot scenes.
At noon we are back in White's City and drive off. In Carlsberg, we are in the Chinese restaurant with an exquisite dragon full, rich buffet bellies - and this for only $ 8 per person! We intended to stay at Brantley Lake SP. The plant has not convinced us from afar. So we take a good two hours ahead on the # 82, go further and further into the Sacramento Mountains, finally see the forest, a river and by 17 clock to 2040 m altitude in a wonderfully Cottonwood (poplar) located campground with all amenities. Everything is very well maintained. After the last two Nights a hit! Besides us, only two RV's are there. White-tailed deer graze nearby. Turkeys grazing in a meadow adjacent. Simply wonderful!
morning it is over a 2600 m high pass (Stelvio height) and then down to Alamogordo. The three peaks in the distance are still covered in snow. The pass road will be easy to navigate. Snow chains, we have not included.
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