November, 2018
We had heard bad, very bad stories about driving the route from Fort Stockton to Carlsbad Caverns. Texas Route 285 cuts North/South through the Chihuahuan Desert and into the Guadalupe Mountains, which sounds like it should be a pretty cool ride in and of itself. BUT, the route is a 1 lane in each direction main thoroughfare for the oil, natural gas and fracking industries of West Texas. It is poorly maintained and parts are under construction (we figured) for expansion. It is overrun with fuel haulers, 16-wheelers, heavy mobile equipment, the employed driving their 3/4 and 1-ton pickup trucks with and without trailers attached, and us civilians – not part of the petroleum and natural gas industry wars. Except for us civilians everyone, and I mean everyone, is in a big city tailgating type of hurry. One of the comments made to us was that the number of traffic fatalities along Route 285 had increased since the fracking boom hit.
We thought that planning our visit to the Caverns on a Sunday would reduce the volume of traffic on the roadways and would help alleviate the stress of this “route from hell.” Absolutely not true! A Sunday was bad enough. Travelling it at any other time would be a white-knuckle experience. It was after dark when we were heading back to our Fort Stockton campsite, and we couldn’t believe the volume of traffic heading north on a Sunday night. We could only guess that it was the roustabouts heading in for their Sunday night and/or Monday morning work shifts.
We tried to see past the oil/gas/fracking plants – something had to make the ride more tolerable. The literature describing the area stated that “as you pass through the Chihuahuan Desert and into the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas, the terrain is filled with prickly pear, chollas, sotols, and agaves.” Sounded like an interesting countryside for the ride . No such luck as long as we were on Route 285.
Once we were finally able to escape Route 285 we did get to experience the endless desert and the wonder of the mountains. We had about 40 miles further to travel until reaching the Park; the last 8 miles or so had us passing through the town of Whites City, New Mexico (population 7). There’s a restaurant, trading post/souvenir shop/dry goods grocer, an old fashioned motel, and a desolate RV campground of about 25 sites all coming together to make up Whites City. We guessed that someone thought it’d be a modern day goldmine as a gateway to the Park.
There are more than 300 known caves beneath the seemingly peaceful surface, and Carlsbad Caverns National Park contains 113 of these caves. These caverns once served as a coastline for an inland sea. Nearly 250 million years later, the Carlsbad Caverns are the remains of this ancient coastline and the eroded Permian reef. The caverns were formed when sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone creating dazzling structures we had the good fortune to see.
We picked up our tour tickets and briefly checked out the fascinating exhibits in the visitors center. We entered through the Cave’s natural entrance and spent more than an hour in descent to our tour’s meeting place, some 800 feet below the surface. After our descent we’d be sure to take the elevator back to the surface.
We’ve been through other caves and caverns; however, there was something wonderful and mysterious about descending into Carlsbad Caverns that made this visit unique and not the customary and usual type of cavern tour.
Designated as a national park in 1972, Guadalupe Mountains National Park encompasses 86,367 acres—about a tenth of the size of Big Bend National Park. Unlike Big Bend’s desert environment, the Park offers diverse landscapes; white gypsum dunes and a salt basin, meadows and pine forests, and rugged mountain tops. Within its borders is Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet, and the world’s most extensive Permian fossil reef. The area was formed by the same prehistoric inland sea that caused the creation of the Carlsbad Caverns. And, it’s an International Dark Sky Park.
We didn’t plan on spending much time at Guadalupe Mountain National Park, and maybe, just maybe we made a mistake by shorting our time there.
Our next stop is New Mexico, and then on to Tucson!
Barbara and Brian
Aimless Wanderings 
stunning photographs, as always – and so glad you arrived there safely, despite the scary traffic!
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Gloria,
You’re only the second person to give a compliment on the photo’s…very much appreciated. And I’m also glad that the weirdness and danger on the road came through clearly (and hopefully not over stated?). So, here’s a quiz for you, Is the wordsmithing done by Barbara or me?
Merry Christmas,
Brian
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I generally hope that you share the responsibility, but I get the feeling you’re at the helm of a majority of the blogging.
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As usual, I want to start by saying wow! Your description of the road to the caverns is captivating. I love the cave pictures with captions! Wish you’d spent more time in Guadalupe Mountain so I’d know more about it – your posts are a picture window into the parks. Thanks!
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Hit Guadalupe NP along with my visit to Big Bend – really nice drive between the two parks through Alpine and Marfa and up to New Mexico. Guadalupe was really nice for hiking – did Guadalupe Peak so I have officially been to the highest point in Texas, You see stories right now of how the popular parks are horrendously over crowded with traffic issues, wait times, reservations required, people shoulder to shoulder. These two parks were not crowded at all. I easily went an hour or more on hikes without seeing another person. No waits for anything. So again thanks for the blog – I’ve been able to get some trips in during the pandemic and the new found rush to the NPs and go to places that were awesome and uncrowded – and for me uncrowded = peaceful – which I really look for on these trips.
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Good to hear about your excellent adventures. We were back in Big Bend on our journey this spring and hiked the Balanced Rock trail – am working on the blog about our leaving AZ after a covid induced year and a half. Went up to Voyageurs NP about a month ago, and we’re now in incredibly beautiful Coeur d’Alene, heading over to the Olympic Peninsula once the worst of the worst “heat of biblical proportions” has lifted in a couple of days (it’s 9:30am here and already 90 degrees). I agree wholeheartedly about the Parks that are less crowded…some tourists care more about their damn selfies than the beauty around them, and are pretty annoying. Oh well, their loss. Any if you’re in a Park dedicated to being outdoors (and sometimes on the water) why wouldn’t you hike? Call me crazy, I guess.
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