National Parks – Page 11 – Paint Your Landscape

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

December 8, 2011April 8, 2012LuAnn

Well, we arrived in New Mexico just as the winter storm came through, plummeting temperatures, providing a little snow and wind, and a whole lot of cold. Our goal initially was to head to Guadalupe Mountains National Park in Texas but the route there from Fort Davis did not look too promising, given the low temps and windy conditions so we went to Plan B.

Our window of time allotted in this area is not very long and we were wondering if we would be able to see either Carlsbad Caverns or Guadalupe Mountains, as the road leading out to them had been closed. We were in luck on day 2 for the caverns, so we headed out for a tour.

I am pretty claustrophobic so I wasn’t sure what to expect when we arrived at the caverns. We opted for the self-guided tour, which did not include wading through mud and who knows what else (bat guano) and crawling through some tight spots with only your ranger and a trusty headlamp to guide you.

Carlsbad Caverns was established as a national park on May 14, 1930 and is located in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction at the caverns is the Big Room, which can be accessed by elevator or hiking in through the natural entrance, taking you 750 feet below the surface. The Big Room is a natural limestone chamber almost 4000 feet long, 625 feet wide, and 350 feet at its highest point. It is the 3rd largest chamber in the U.S. and the 7th in the world. The temperature in the caves was a balmy 56° with 90% humidity, much nicer than the 30° outside.

Jim White, a park ranger for the NPS, is given credit for the discovery and early exploration of Carlsbad Caverns (as early as his teens). He named many of the rooms and more prominent formations within the caverns; i.e. Bottomless Pit, Fairyland, Temple of the Sun, Rock of Ages.

The park contains 116 caves, with only two open to the public. Slaughter Canyon Cave does not have paving or lighting installed, as ours did, and visitors can only enter this cave accompanied by a park ranger.

Besides the groundwater, geological activity that freed brine mixed with other elements formed sulfuric acid that helped to form these caves and the stalactites, stalagmites, and other speleothems found throughout the caverns. Some of the most striking features found here would not have been possible without the corrosive action of this acid. Today there are few areas of these caverns that are still wet, due to the desert climate. Carlsbad Caverns is not considered dead or alive, just inactive.

Walking through the Big Room seemed otherworldly and pictures taken with our camera cannot begin to depict the vastness of this cavern. I have included a slideshow below for your viewing pleasure, as well as a link to some amazing photos taken of the caverns by a Q T Luong.

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Big Bend National Park

December 4, 2011April 8, 2012LuAnn

Big Bend National Park, located in a remote section of southwestern Texas, was open to the public as a national park on July 1, 1944. It covers over 800,000 acres, with the Rio Grande River flowing through it, forming an international border between the U.S. and Mexico.

We stayed in the park at the Rio Grande Village campground, boondocking at $7/night, not too shabby and the views were pretty nice too! The temperatures in the daytime were in the mid to upper 70’s and in the mid 30’s at night.

We love to get out into nature and hike, but with only 3 full days in the park, we opted for shorter scenic hikes in various parts of the park so we could see more of this sprawling wilderness area.

Our first night near sunset we took a hike from our campground onto the nature trail that wandered up to a small butte. From the top we could look out onto the Rio Grande and our campground below and a 180° turn gave us views of another country, that being Mexico.

From atop this knoll we looked down on the little village of Boquillas, with the Sierra del Carmen mountains towering over it. Hard to imagine that Mexico was so close to where we stood. Seeing Boquillas off in the distance brought back some fond memories of our year traveling in Mexico.

Day 1 ~ Hot Springs Trail

Everyone was recommending this 6-mile trail to us, and with the satisfaction of knowing we would be soaking in a hot springs at the edge of the Rio Grande at the trail’s end, enough said, we’re there! Walking above the Rio Grande on this trail, we realized just what a narrow river it is, at least where it meanders through the park, and the canyon walls rising above it were breathtaking.

Given that we came to the park in the “shoulder season”, the hot springs were ours, with no crowds to fend off. With Terry scouting for other hikers on the trail (we had not seen any to this point), I decided to change into my swimsuit in the open. I made a quick change, no problem, (or so I thought) unless you would call a photo-shooting hubby a problem. As I turned to get into the hot springs, across the Rio Grande (did I mention it is a narrow river) are three horses and two young Mexican men, looking across the river. Suffice it to say, I did not offer them my most flattering side for their viewing pleasure! Oh well, no danger of running into either of them anytime soon! After a luxurious soak in the springs, we hiked back out to the trailhead.

Day 2 ~ Chisos Basin

Lost Mine Trail, yet another recommendation from park hosts, is a 5-mile hike in the Chisos Mountains, with elevation gains of 1100 feet. It is a 2.5 mile steady climb up to the peak so it got our hearts pumping and was a great leg workout to boot! When we made it to the top we were presented with 360° views, gorgeous no matter the direction. The Casa Grande rock formation, seen to the left, was prominent as we worked our way up. It sits at 7325 feet and is one of the more striking formations in the park. Viewed from the visitor center at Chisos Basin, it is just as stunning.

Emory Peak is the tallest in the park, at 7832 feet and the 9th tallest in Texas. They make a lot of things big in Texas but their mountains don’t seem to be one of them!

Terry and I spent a little time at the top of the Lost Mine Trail, to soak in the sun and views. Here a few shots from above.

Terry, looking out over the Chisos Mountain Range

Me from on top — Me enjoying the views from on high

Once down off the trail, we headed to the Chisos Mountain Lodge for a light lunch and some lovely views, which we are told are even more so at sunset.

Day 3 ~ Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

Our final day at the park was to be a driving tour of the west side, with a couple of short hikes off-road to enjoy some sights. Our destination was Santa Elena Canyon, where those boating the Rio Grande usually put in. At this time of the year, the Rio Grande is a slow-moving river with rapids only in the spring when the flooding occurs. We took the 1.6-mile Santa Elena Canyon Trail to the river bottom, which gave us gorgeous views of the sheer canyon walls of Mesa de Anguilla on the Mexico side.

On our way back, we saw some other interesting rock formations worthy of a photo or two.

Tuff Canyon, which reminded us of Buckskin Gulch in Utah

Goat Mountain is a geologist’s dream, with horizontal pyroclastic flow deposits from volcanic eruptions 29 million years ago – such beautiful colors!

Our last stop of the day before going back to our campground was at the Lower Burro Mesa Pour-off, an easy 1-mile hike back into a canyon with some special views of the pour-off. We would love to be there when the water was running but guess that would not be possible as our trail, which was a dry riverbed would probably be a raging river.

Close-up of the pour-off. Imagine floodwaters pouring over the top.

Our time at Big Bend has drawn to an end. From here we are headed to Fort Davis, TX, then on to Guadalupe Mountains National Park.

Bryce Canyon National Park ~ Land of Hoodoos and Fins

September 11, 2010April 8, 2012LuAnn

The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles. ~Anne Frank~

Sunday, September 5th – Bryce Canyon National Park

Where have I been all my life?! While I reflect back on my many corporate years, sitting behind a desk, I could easily berate myself for letting life slip away as I look at the breathtaking beauty of this land of red rocks and fabulous architecture. Why did it take me so long to experience all that I now see around me, when it was right outside my back door for so many years? I vow to not look back but ahead at what is to come.

Sunday morning dawned clear and with the promise of a beautiful day for hiking the canyon. We opted for the Queen’s Garden/Peekaboo Loop, a 6.5 mile venture into an ancient land of hoodoos, fins, and the Wall of Windows. As we hiked down into the canyon, we experienced a 360 degree view of red rock and limestone spires reaching up into the deepest cerulean blue sky we had ever seen. Although this was a well-traveled trail, it seemed that if you stood perfectly still, you could almost hear the whispers of the spirits who passed through these parts centuries ago. It was a very humbling experience and a somewhat difficult hike at times for someone who had not slept much the night before.

Enjoy the slideshow of pictures that is Terry’s contribution to this adventure!

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A Few Yellowstone Pictures

September 7, 2010April 8, 2012LuAnn

Since I was not able to download some pictures of Yellowstone in my last posting, here are just a few to whet your appetite. Enjoy!

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone - Lower Falls

The Yellowstone Experience

September 7, 2010April 8, 2012LuAnn

“Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.” ~John Muir~

The Yellowstone Experience – something everyone should know. My husband Terry and I were recently marveling that it took us so long to find our way to this land of magic and mystery. After spending over two years in a place of such raw, wild beauty, it is time for us to move on and gain new insights and explore new corners of the world. But before we leave this paradise, it is important to touch on a few of the wonderful experiences we shared here, together and with special friends.

Hiking was by far our favorite pastime, where we could leave the worries of the day and immerse ourselves in God’s splendor, the backcountry of Yellowstone, where we knew for certain that we were not on the top of the food chain, but sharing this wilderness with those who were here before us – grizzly, black bear, bison, and elk, to name a few. Terry always felt that being amongst the wild ones kept all his senses on high alert, which was the best way to view nature.

Some of our hikes were shared with two of our most favorite people, Rosie and Jim Johnson, who we know from Sedona and who summer in Yellowstone. At times Jim’s alter ego Jimmy would come along for the ride.

Rosie Relaxing on Pebble Creek Trail — Rosie Relaxing on Rescue Creek Trail

Friday, September 3rd ~ Moving Day

This was a bittersweet day for us, leaving the grandeur of Yellowstone, the people we have come to know and love and our apartment that faced Mt. Everts and allowed us the opportunity to look out our window and view wildlife at its finest, newborn elk and bison calves with their moms. Some days walking to work was an interesting journey of dodging the elk, who can be more aggressive with their babes in tow.

All of our worldly possessions are crammed into a 10-foot U-Haul and the back of our truck camper. Of this, some would think, look how far they have fallen! We prefer to see this as a very freeing experience that will allow us to pick up and move about as we see fit. This is certainly not appealing to everyone but seems to be what is calling us at this time in our lives.

One last lunch for a while with our friend Rosie (sorry Jim could not be there) and we are off. We are sorry to be leaving so soon before the beginning of the elk rut, where the resident elk herd at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone perform quite a show for employees and guests alike. As if staged, a very large bull elk strolled into Mammoth this very morning, getting ready to round up his harem of cows and steel himself against any other bulls in the area who may want to challenge him.

A very prominent bull elk lovingly known as “Number 6” (the ear tag number on him) was king of this territory until a freak accident took his life over a year ago. He was a “bad boy” who had to have his antlers removed a couple of times for doing battle with vehicles and making a nuisance of himself. He was a beauty who gave us all chills whenever we heard him bugle. There were many tears shed over his passing.

Goodbye for now Yellowstone. We will remember your wildness, your breathtaking vistas, and all the wonderful people who you summon and continue to draw back to your beauty and mystery year after year.