Carlsbad, New Mexico

After a short drive to Carlsbad, New Mexico, we arrived at the Carlsbad KOA Kampground. It is a lovely place with a gorgeous view of the Guadalupe Mountains. A constant breeze blows across the arid land creating a pleasant heat to relax and watch the sunset.

We started out the morning of July 3 at the Living Desert Zoo and Garden Park. We walked through acres of beautiful desert gardens and saw dozens of varieties of cacti, grasses, and flowers. There were exhibits of rescued animals such as javelinas, Mexican wolves, buckhorns, owls, roadrunners, and many reptiles. It was a great visit for a mere $5.00 per person.

After lunch, we made our way up, up, up the mountain to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Designated as a world heritage site, this magnificent wonder now belongs to the people of planet Earth, as it should, because there is no other place like it in the world. We began by descending the saddleback walkways down 750 feet into the natural opening of the cavern. At first, because of the colony of thousands of cave swallows that inhabit the opening, the stench was nearly unbearable. I felt like I was trapped in a chicken coop. But once we passed the area where natural light no longer penetrates the cave, the birds were not present and neither was their stink. At that point, we could comfortably look around at the vast array of cave structures. Words are inadequate to describe the beauty of a cave and pictures cannot capture the delicate intricacies of the millions of years of work completed by water alone.

What I did not realize was that the Natural Cave Entrance and the Big Room were separate tours. We walked farther and farther into the earth and I was amazed by the gigantic stalactites and stalagmites that grew from the ground and from the ceiling. Sometimes they met to form a column – a strikingly decorated column of calcite and gypsum which took millions of years to form. There were so many cave features like sweeping draperies that grow in a flowing pattern along the walls and from the ceilings; mirror lakes that were so still that the signage was printed upside down in order for visitors to be able to read the words in the lake; feathery gypsum crystals that daintily clung to the walls and in little crevices; the cool drafty air that stays at a constant 54 degrees; the structures contain many different minerals which produce varying colors in the artificial lighting in the caves, but amazingly none of the lighting is colored in any way. By the time we reached the lowest depth of the cavern, my legs were wiggly from the constant strain and I was sure I had seen the most amazing sights of my life…and then…I realized we had not even been to the Big Room yet. We had been walking for about 2 hours now.

The Big Room is boasted to be able to house 14 Astrodomes within its massive walls and numerous rooms. There was a room called Fairy Land that sparkled with white gypsum crystals and a stalagmite so large and decorated that it was dubbed the “Christmas Tree.” There were hundreds of small stalagmites that grew in a “forest” of small “trees” that looked as if tiny elves should be busy at work. But for me, the most awe-inspiring stop on the whole tour was in the Hall of Giants. There were enormous features that reached 65 feet high and 20 feet in diameter. It was like being in the redwood forest of the underworld. As I rounded the corner entering this room, I stopped gasping and with gaping mouth stood and marveled at the beauty, majesty, mystery, and magic of this room. Tears came to my eyes and I realized I was standing in God’s personal playground. He must have had fun creating this space. If a person were ever to suffer a crisis of faith, small or large, he should drop everything and make a pilgrimage to the caverns. Standing in the shadows of these giants, one feels small and insignificant – just a tiny piece of the master plan. Nothing so perfect could be random.

After another one and one-half hours of walking, we made our way to the elevator that speeds upward 750 feet in 58 seconds. And we were once again thrust into the blistering heat of the desert – but changed forever

.