January 2, 2009 – Carlsbad Caverns and the Pecos Flume

Before I tell you about today, I have to tell you about last night. The wind died down and while it was still warm, Andy and I took a walk around the area. The stars, oh my, - it is just like Cherry Springs; we could see the Milky Way. And we could hear the coyotes howling – very different.

Today we traveled to Carlsbad Caverns. The Cavern is one of the twenty World Heritage Sites in the US and it is considered by many as the eighth wonder of the world. And it was amazing.

There is a variety of tours and we did 2 of them. The Natural Entrance tour that descends 750’ in one mile and the Big Room perimeter tour (for a total of 2.5 miles)

From May to October, there is a large Mexican Bat population and they do nightly programs to watch the bats emerge from the cave. This is where you would sit when the bats come out. Can you imagine being that close to thousands of bats?
The Natural Entrance:

Pictures from the Big Room:

We then took the 9.5 mile Walnut Canyon Desert Drive.

On our way back, we stopped at the Pecos River Flume. The Flume was originally built of wood but after a 1902 flood, it was rebuilt in concrete, giving Carlsbad its own entry in “Ripley’s Believe or Not,” the concrete arches used in the construction of the Flume were the largest in the world. The Flume still serves the purpose for which it was built, bringing irrigation water over the Pecos River to farmers and ranchers in the Carlsbad area.

The Flume:

Very interesting!

We arrived home late afternoon and Bob stopped by to talk to us about a lot that is available. We were able to get a lot of questions answered and it is very tempting but we do want to see the other parks first before we make our decision. We do like the lot sizes here and we also found out that they do monthly rents so this will be a place we would spend some time.

The stars and coyotes were out again tonight.