Meandering to Maine and Back: Day 11 (July 3rd) or The Ancient Reef

It didn’t rain during the night, so the RC cover remains untested. We’ve already made changes to the “If it rains” system and will test those out tonight. We’re in nightly thunderstorm area now, and it feels like we’re dodging bullets every time we stop to sleep.

The odometer said we were 3410 miles into our trip as we left the picnic area, heading north.

Only an hour up Highway 62 was Guadalupe Mountain National Park and other than beautiful vistas of El Capitan and half a dozen hiking trails, it isn’t readily apparent why the area is protected. We joked that it was because Texas was jealous of not have enough national parks, but really think it’s just because it’s part of the ancient reef.

We actually arrived at the park before the visitors center opened, and made a bathroom run at a nearby campground. The area used to be a stagecoach stop, so we did a mile loop walk that ended at the old stagecoach stop’s ruins. We had already learned about the short lived Butterfield Mail Route from St. Louis to San Fransisco at Fort Bowie, but it was interesting reading more about it being the precursor of the Pony Express and the Intercontinental Railroad.

By then the visitors center was open and we did our routine of park movie and souvenirs. When we chatted up the rangers we learned that most of the park trails were closed due a high fire risk. We were told what trails were open and headed back down Highway 62 about two miles to an overlook of El Capitan we had seen earlier on our way to the park. it had been located on the opposite side of the highway with a cement divider between us, so I hadn’t stopped on the way to the park. It was time for a photo, brunch, and to hard boil some eggs. 

All three were accomplished successfully, and we headed back to the trailhead in the park. Each of the Devil’s Hall and Guadalupe Peak trails were open, but we weren’t planning to finish either of them. We did walk just over a mile on the Devil’s Hall trail, completing our goal of 20 minutes one direction, before returning to Austin. 

It was only just past noon, but the temperature was closing in on 100 and much too hot to do more hiking. Austin was at 7350 total miles, so we drove into the nearby city of Carlsbad, just a short 2 hours up to the road, for an oil change. The Master Lube South we stopped at was staffed with friendly grease monkeys, but they didn’t have the size of oil filter that Austin needed. We were told that the across town Master Lube location did, so off we went. The price, almost $100, was a bit higher than expected, but Austin will be good untill he reaches 14000 miles now. 

We hit the Walmart on the way out of Carlsbad and restocked RC with proteins, cheese, and Romain lettuce, then made our way to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park visitors center. I was hoping that the park had entry openings for July 3rd that hadn’t been filled and we could complete this park a day early.  The last group of visitors is allowed in the caverns at 2:30pm to complete their tour, either self guided or with a guide, by 5:00pm when the park closes.

We got there just at 2:30pm, but a sign indicated they were sold out. We did get information about the Bat Flight program, which would start at 7:45pm. We killed some time doing the park movie, reading the exhibits, and bought our souvenirs. With two hours still to fill we had an early dinner, explored the touristy nearby town of White City, and got some reading done in the shade of one of its picnic areas.

We packed up our books and drove back to the visitors center around 7pm. Its a short walk from the parking lot to the amphitheater with its stone benches located just above the mouth of the caverns. The presentation, about bats in general and then the bats specific to the these caverns, started at 7:45. The ranger finishes the bat talk, but continues to answer question until the first bat is spotted exiting. You’re told to put away all electronics and keep your voices low so that it doesn’t scare the bats,. I found out later it wouldn’t have mattered if I had left my phone/camera out anyway. It's much too dark by the time the bats start exiting for photos and videos.

We weren’t the only ones that were interested in watching the bat flight. Shortly before dark we were joined by Ralph the Mouse, without his motorcycle. He darted behind several rows of visitors before vanishing into the desert.

The bats leave the cave in a tornado pattern that has its own distinct rushing of air sound. They then disperse in groups to hunt bugs, their favorite being moths. It's interesting to watch, though I tired of it much sooner than Shar did. Eventually the parade of over 100K bats slowed, and we made our way back through the dark to Austin. We had found a nice boondocking spot off of Highway 62 about 5 miles south of the park earlier in the day, and went there to settle for the night. 

With thunderstorms on the horizon yet again, we wrapped RC in the tarp, but put the Jackery on the dash above the steering wheel this time. We ran cord the cord through a crack in the window. It’s still a work in progress, but eventually our luck will run out and we’ll get rain. The highway was far enough away that we couldn’t hear traffic, so we quickly fell asleep.