Day 68 - The Day We Drove 700 Miles

Yes, you read that correctly, sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

The day started at White Sands National Monument in NM.

It was the best sand dune we saw so far because of the color! It was so beautiful and the contrast between the blue sky and glistening white sand made me feel like I was in a dream. 

It was fun to take lots of pictures with self timer! The sand was nice and cool so we walked barefoot.

It truly felt like we had gone to heaven and were walking on clouds. 

Our next stop of the day was to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park, also in New Mexico. I had seen pictures of it before our trip and was really looking forward to this one. 

We descended into the cave from the visitor center by taking an elevator deep into the ground. It was a weird feeling to be going down into the earth when I am so used to going up! My ears started popping almost immediately and we felt a temperature drop.

It was a fascinating experience walking through the cave, learning that in one section, called the “Big Room” which is the largest known natural limestone chamber in the Western Hemisphere and was about the size of 14 football fields. It was hard to see the scope of the place also because it was dim.

History on Cavern Development (info taken from plaque) - 

—250 million years ago, marine plants/ animals built a limestone reef along the edge of an inland sea.

— 60 million years ago, Hydrogen sulfide gas (from deep oil and gas deposits) and water formed sulfuric acid which dissolved cavities within the limestone. 

— 3 million years ago, as more limestone dissolved, cavities enlarged. Water slowly drained from the cavern and roof sections collapsed.

— Recent— Stalacities, stalagmites, and other cave decoration formed as limestone-laden ground water dripped into the air-filled cavern.

An amazing section of the cavern was called the Hall of Giants which are giant speleothems and the largest in cave. These started as deposits on the cavern floor and then calcite dripping caused them to grow so high.

Another cool sight was called the “Draperies” which appeared to look like ribbon or draperies hanging from the top of caverns. These so called draperies form when water contains dissolved limestone and run down the ceiling, leaving traces of calcite.There were many other cool formations and it was a lot to take in on just a short mile or so walk.

There were many other cool formations and it was a lot to take in on just a short mile or so walk. We finally hit the road and drove all the way to Austin for the night. It was a crazy amount of driving and was a little scary at one point because the road was so dark with so many potholes and the speed limit was 75. Nonetheless, we stopped in a random town for gas and some ok bbq and made our way to the hotel by about 2am.