My 2020 Trip to New Mexico
All things said, my fourth year in education was a pretty good year until the end of it. I was teaching AP again for the first time since my original foray in human geography my second year. I would have some of my original freshmen as juniors. My new wife and I had gotten married just the previous July. We had double income of around 7k a month, no kids, and a $1,100 rental on a three bedroom duplex in a cozy neighborhood with lots of walking paths. This is where I first started doing my Golden Hour walks. I was in the best shape of my life.
I camped extensively during that year in the fall, winter, and spring with the ultimate climax: a three night, four day trip to New Mexico: The Land of Enchantment. I would visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, and the then newly christened White Sands National Park. That would bring my total national parks visited to five, and thus get closer to my goal of visiting as many national parks as possible.
My trip would take place over the first half of spring break, and my wife and I would plan our first anniversary/delayed honeymoon in the second half of spring break.
I seemed very optimistic then in the March of 2020.
Arrival in Carlsbad
I would be staying at the beautiful Carlsbad KOA. I was staying at a cabin and the humble KOA makes quite an impression. Unlike the drive toward Alpine, the drive toward Carlsbad is quite flat, but not ugly. The featureless, arid stretches of empty land mixes with hazy skies to create an alien feeling, especially as the shadows grow long at twilight. The alien feeling only intensifies when you arrive at the office, which is filled with cute decor of little green men.
The campground is conveniently located within relatively short distance of Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains, and around twenty minutes from Carlsbad, New Mexico. Carlsbad was large enough to meet some basic needs, but small enough that my isolated KOA - surrounded by desert at all sides - could see the stars brightly at night. They had a kitchen with an absolutely delicious burger. They also took in stray cats that had been abandoned in the desert, making providing them litter boxes, feeding areas, and little shelters on the office porch affectionately named in the style of the cabins.
Confession: My favorite drink to bring with me out to the campsite are Seagram's Escapes. Laugh all you want, but I had some when I ate at Longdraw Pizza on my first trip to Big Bend and it's become tradition. I bought a pack and drank a few bottles that night on the porch of my cabin, gently swinging in the porch swing. The light was off, but the moon and stars were bright companions.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
When I originally planned my trip, I had anticipated Carlsbad Caverns to be the most underwhelming of the parks I planned to visit: a mandatory, but perfunctory detour while I visited the real attraction - Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and the highest peak in the state of Texas. I hadn't even planned to visit Carlsbad in that first day, but the weather forecast rain. So, rather than take a hike, I decided to go to the caverns.
SI drove to Carlsbad Cavern, not really expecting too much, but excited to see the view. How wrong I was.
Under a cloudy sky, I drove along the switchback that snaked up the mountain to the summit, and the visitor's center for Carlsbad Caverns National Park. My parking spot faced out over empty desert as far as I could see. It was relatively busy that morning. The surface level consisted of a few information panels and some faux stalagmites, but the big attraction was the elevator that would take you deep down beneath the surface of the earth. As the elevator descended, it told you how many feet you've traveled as compared to tall monuments such as the Willis Tower.
And then you arrive into another world. The pressure as you go deeper down helps amplify the otherworldly feeling. You can see clearly thanks to the spotlights, which are positioned to be unseen. Your skin is only ever touched by indirect light, reflected off the stone. This gives the illusion that the light is ethereal and without source.
I had never fathomed how dense the stalactites of caverns would be, stretching down like long needles from the ceiling. Or how the floor of the cave bubbled up unevenly.
You feel very small, as if you're traversing within the belly of a great beast. You know, in the back of your mind, you should be in pitch blackness. I tried to imagine what it would be like down there without light. The paths that winded through the cave were full of visitors, yet it didn't feel crowded. Every human made word or sound was indistinct and muffled.
I cursed my poor cell phone camera. Every time I turned my head, I saw some new awe-inspiring formation. Check out the gallery:
I hiked up a cave path to the surface just to say I did it. Emerging out from the darkness into the sunlight made me feel like Orpheus. For the first time in hours, I felt the wind caress my face, and realized the air had been still down in the cavern. I let myself enjoy a few more fresh breaths before I descended back down to take the elevator to my parking spot. I did a little more hiking around the area as the weather had held before I returned.
I nursed a Seagrams when I got back to my KOA. I marveled at how what I had expected to be a nothing stop turned out to be such an eye opening experience. I texted my wife a few pictures and we began to book things for our first anniversary - July of 2020. I took a hot shower, and fell asleep.
I'm sure I'll revisit this soon. I had three more days to go.