..::|| Patrick Cobb ||::..

Spring Break Trip 2005 Day 1

We started our trip at the wee hour of 3:30 AM. Starting this early we were able to drive to Seguin by sunrise. Stopping at New Braunfels for gas we got a call from Laura asking where we were, she had just woken up, little did she know we had been driving for hours and were one third of the way across the great state of Texas. After moving past Ozona on interstate 10 we started seeing wind powered generators in the distance as we drove closer they got bigger and more plentiful. after rounding one bent in the interstate we saw one up close for the first time.

Another plentiful sight in west texas is petroleum related equipment. These oil seeking rigs are scattered across the planes on both sides of the interstate.

Our destination for the first day was White's City, to get there we took 285 north out of Fort Stockton. Because of the hour we left, and the time change we arrived around 2:00 PM. White's City lies at the base of the mountains in which Carlsbad caverns are located. The city is very small, really only one main street with a hotel on one side and a few small shops on the other. We stayed in a Best Western complete with southwest theme, for a reasonable price.

After relaxing for a few hours after the trip we decided to take a trip up to the top of the mountain and go to the caverns. The caverns close pretty early so we were one of the last groups to get in that day. After getting a brief lecture about keeping our hands off of the formations we were able to start our decent down into the cavern via the natural entrance.

The path down descends 750 feet over 1.25 miles, it is a good idea to wear very comfortable walking shoes and lace the up tight to keep your feet from sliding forward and hurting your toes. The path starts in what looks to be a very unformed part of the cave but as you descend down into the cave you will start to see more and more formations.

The formations only get bigger and more beautiful the further down you go. One of my goals was to get some good pictures in the cavern using a minimal amount of gear, this means i did not want to carry a tripod. This limitation presented a problem of getting enough light to have the pictures come out. I was able to accomplish this in some manner by using a very large aperture F/2.8, a somewhat slow shutter speed 1/60sec. and a powerful flash. The only limitation i found with this set up is that the flash range was not too far, but on the artistic side this did provide for some interesting shots.

The trail is lined with formations, stalagmites, stalactites, and helicites which only get denser the farther you go.

The cavern is the eight wonder of the world because of the extremely large chambers it contains, the largest being 14 acres. Some of the largest most photographed formations in the world are in Carlsbad.

After visiting the cavern we decided to take a short hike up to a scenic lookout and watch the sunset. The view was great and there were not many people on the trail. We did see one other person who wanted to know where the trail went. The trail continues around to what is called the guano mine entrance, this is a small vertical opening where guano was lifted out years ago when the cavern was still mined. The mine entrance is fenced in but you can still see it.

The trail wanders by some beautiful flowers and cactus pants as well as other native desert flora.

At the top of the look out is a small hut where you can look out over the valley below.

A few pictures of us on the look out trail.

And then back to the hotel to rest and prepare for the next day of the trip.

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