The Caverns

Hopefully most of you have been to the Carlsbad Caverns - if you haven't been, you should go!

Bill and I went many years ago, in the summer, and saw the bats fly out! That, and the cave itself, is very cool!!!!

The "natural entrance" to the cave, surrounded by prickly pear. It's a longer, harder-on-the-knees descent (vs. the elevator...!), but way neater!

Billy, before he gets swallowed up by the darkness... (better as a B&W)

Going down, down, down...

And gone...

One of the first cool cave things, called the Whale's Mouth. I just wonder how they got the light in there without disturbing any of the formation, and where's the cord?!

After feeling all prepared, bringing the heavy-duty Canon and the tripod, it sure was a stupid let-down to realize I'd left the tripod mount piece on my long lens (back at the RV)! Grrr...! Oh well, thank goodness for my new little point & shoot! Not super image quality at all, but it actually did amazingly well given the almost complete lack of light!!!

The club-like formations hanging down are aptly called Lion's Paws. Isn't that a great term for them?

Stalactites (hold tight to the ceiling), stalagmites (might reach the ceiling), and a hole in the ground/dry pond.

Hmm... Anyone want to give this little ladder a try? Huh? Anyone?

Aw...c'mon, it'll be fun...!?!

This was one of my favorite formations - it's still "under construction!" Called the Crystal Spring Dome, it's one of the only speleothems in the cave that's "active"/still growing! And if you enlarge the image, I'll bet you'll be able to see that it's shiny - that's because it's wet! There's also a pool around its base.

Its backside.

I think this was called Dolls Theater.

There are several ranger-led, extra-fee hikes you can sign up for, with varying caving intensities... Some have you crawling on the cave floor through holes... Uh, we just did the self-guided, standing upright tour...! But obviously, they had some takers for some of the other types.

I did pull out the big Canon for a couple attempts at high ISO shots. Not too bad when there was sufficient lighting.

Closer.

And back to camp...