Our day started with an exciting episode of Pokemon Go - Live Edition! As we at out oatmeal breakfast and enjoyed the view, a little avian friend joined us.
We next stopped at a little park convenience store to get ice. It was very quaint and charming, eliciting images of local stores with wooden racks and swept concrete floors from bygone days. We bought a bag of ice for our water bottles, which felt very indulgent considering the hot and arid environment into which we were to venture.
At the nearby visitor's center, we saw a flier for how to earn badges by going on educational hikes. I am a sucker for such activities--once a Junior Ranger, always a Junior Ranger--so Whitney and I embarked on the first of two hikes: a nature walk around the center where we learned about local desert flora. We especially liked the ocotillo cactus in addition the the prickly pear cactus that we'd seen the previous day. An exciting moment happened when we say that a critter had eaten part of a prickly pear fruit (called a tuna)! Yes, we are nerds. Notice the seeds inside the tuna.
After earning our first badge, we drove back up to Chisos Basin for another hike. While approaching the trailhead, we saw evidence of wildlife! We later learned that these droppings are likely from foxes, due to the poop size and prominent display (it's a territorial thing).
Although the weather swelled to disturbing levels, we found solace among the many prickly pears.
Our novice status definitely showed when we dragged ourselves back to the car, swearing that it had to be at least 104 degrees.... turns out it was a mere 85 degrees. Well, we proudly received our badges regardless.
After leaving Big Bend, we retraced our steps back north through Texas. Because the park lies on the Mexico-US border, we got stopped at that border patrol station! It was all very exciting as they interrogated us, and I had to be sure to tone down my ooh-this-is-a-new-experience attitude so as to not arouse suspicion.
Several hours later we crossed into New Mexico and found out way to Carlsbad Cavern's National Park. We initially planned on just making it to the Bat Fly that night and then do all the cave exploring the next day, but we got there early enough that we slipped in a self-guided tour of the Big Room (so named because, in addition to other characteristics, the floor space is equivalent to 14 football fields! The Cavern is so fantastical that it is almost unbelievable. The size and features of it at times make it seem like a fairy land, confectionary masterpiece, Lord of the Rings set, or a magical North Pole landscape. Unfortunately, my photos don't come close to capturing the caves.
A nice Chinese couple walked in front of us and I offered (in Chinese) t take their photo. They graciously accepted while expressing amazement that I could speak Mandarin. I quickly switched back to English so that I didn't give away how little Chinese I speak. In return they offers to take our picture too, so here's one of my and Whitney that isn't a selfie (gasp!).
We made it out of the caves at about 5:30pm and the bat flight started at 7, so we set up kitchen in the visitor center parking lot. #shameless
There are about 300,000 Brazillian Freetail bats that live in Carlsbad Caverns during the summer, and they make a grand exit at dusk to go eat metric tonnes of moths (Brazil doesn't do the Imperial System). A park ranger had a little program and answered questions (some from people who obviously didn't read the plaques). Before bats started swirling en masse out of the gaping cave mouth. We couldn't take photos because the bats are camera shy and disturbed by the electronics.
So... onto where to sleep... When we'd arrived at Carlsbad Caverns that late afternoon, we asked the ranger where we could camp in the park (I'd had memories of camping there in 1995). Turns out that there is only backcountry camping in the park (that one has to hike to), but we could try a private RV park just outside... or venture into the BLM property just a few miles north of the park.
Well, I'm always up for a little adventure and Whitney obliged, so we took the highway three miles outside of the park until we arrived at the side dirt road 772. A quick 700 feet off the highway took us halfway up a hill with a nice vantage of the desert and the headlight dotted highway below. We found a suitable flat plot on the side of the dirt road and set up our tent. A lightning storm raged in the far distance, but no worry- we couldn't hear any thunder and anyway, our weather app promised that we wouldn't have any storms where we were.
My cell phone got enough reception to watch some replays of Olympic swimming and water polo before we retired at about 10:30pm. Then around 12, the wind picked up. Not a big deal- the lightning still burst in the distance, though it had moved from directly north to northwest of us. But then we both smelled that smell of fresh rain on parched ground. The wind whipped over the tent, causing the tent poles to bend down and wrap around me a bit, and we got out and quickly snapped the rain fly onto the tent. We spent the next hour or two enduring the storm and convincing ourselves that the lightning wasn't approaching our hill upon which we were perched. Eventually the storm subsided and we emerged the next morning a little short on sleep but without any lightning strikes or rain drops. And as a point of pride, I feel like we each gained a badge of courage.
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