Saturday Summary - Week 16 - Wind Above. Silence Below.

Feb 14th - Feb 20th - Anthony, NM (70’s) → Las Cruces, NM (70’s) 

Guadalupe Mountains National Park

This week felt dramatic in the way only nature can be dramatic. We were fortunate not to have any mechanical chaos this week. Just wind that tried to push us off the road and caves that felt like they swallowed us whole. We explored two national parks that couldn’t have been more different: one towering above the desert floor, the other hidden deep beneath it.

Guadalupe Mountains, Texas

Tallest point in Texas. Windiest point in our memory.

The drive up to the Guadalupe Mountains National Park was intense. The wind was so strong that I had to grip the wheel with both hands and brace whenever a tractor-trailer passed. The bus doesn’t love crosswinds, and neither do I.

By the time we reached the visitor center, people were physically leaning into the wind just to walk forward. It was almost comical, except it wasn’t. We had planned a longer hike, maybe even something ambitious. After feeling that wind? Absolutely not. Guadalupe Peak sits at 8,751 feet, the highest point in Texas, rising more than 3,000 feet above the Chihuahuan Desert. It’s stunning and dramatic. Especially the way it rises out of the desert, from flat land to this amazing mountain rising above everything. The hike to the peak wasn’t happening for us.

Instead, we chose the Smith Spring Trail Loop near Frijole Ranch. Lower elevation. Shorter. Smarter. We left Lucky in the bus. The wind was just too much for her little frame. I could picture her being carried into West Texas like a tumbleweed. No, thank you.

The Frijole Ranch History Museum was a quiet surprise, with layers of human history, Native Americans, ranchers, and settlers. My favorite was the small schoolhouse.

We were done fighting the wind. So we did the reasonable thing, and we went underground. Onward to Carlsbad Caverns.

Whites City, New Mexico

Tiny. I mean tiny.

Because we left Guadalupe Mountains National Park earlier than expected, we had time before our timed entry at Carlsbad Caverns. Whites City is the gateway town to both Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns. Gateway feels generous. There is one restaurant. The Cactus Café. We ate there. It was simple but just what we needed. I finally mailed Jeanne’s package (yes, it took me that long), browsed a tiny shop, and bought an overpriced sticker because apparently that’s who I am now. A sticker collector, even if the price hurts sometimes. The most important building in town? The gas station. Last gas for 110 miles. With headwinds. That felt important.

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

Bigger than I imagined. Deeper than I expected.

This was the busiest national park we’ve visited so far. The line to the ticket booth wrapped outside the building.  We had timed entry tickets and had to wait for our turn. We wandered around the gift shop. I kept pondering: What really is the difference between a cave and a cavern?

For the record: 

• A cave is a natural underground chamber. 

• A canyon is a deep valley with steep sides.

  
  

I still found that answer a bit confusing, so I went to my personal experience.  Earlier in the trip, we visited Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. That one felt tight at first, going down narrow stairwells leading to the big rooms. Carlsbad was different. You descend. And descend. And descend. For almost an hour, we walked downhill through an enormous opening that never felt tight. No claustrophobia from the cave itself. Just awe.

Carlsbad goes more than 1,000 feet underground. Mammoth? Around 400 feet. That’s a significant difference in my mind.

The Big Room in Carlsbad was massive.

Formed when sulfuric acid dissolved limestone over time, leaving behind over 119 caves in the region. What got me the most, though, was the elevator back to the surface. 750 feet straight up in a metal box. Three-quarters of the height to the Empire State Building observation deck, underground!

That part? Claustrophobia. Real. What if it stops? What if the lights go out? What if…

It didn’t, of course. But my brain tried.

We’ll share more about the rest of the week next Saturday. We’re part of something meaningful right now, and I want to finish this project to give it the space it deserves before writing about it.