SW USA 2024: The Canadian Coddiwomplers*

*Coddiwomple: “to travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination."

My buddies. They had lost their way.

Roswell and Carlsbad Caverns

We left the Trinity Turtle Labyrinth and headed to Roswell and Bottomless Lakes State Park through the Mescalero Reservation. Our drive took us over the Sierra Blanca mountain range (I think). Clifford made the climb to over 7600’ elevation. It was amazing to see the landscape change as we drove higher. The desert was left behind, it got much cooler and the vegetation changed from cactus, to shrub to deciduous trees to evergreen pines. In the distance we saw snow on the mountain tops. A beautiful drive.

Our route to Bottomless Lakes State Park took us through the City of Roswell and on a long and winding road to the campground on Lea Lake. There is an old stone pavilion built by the Civilian Corps of Engineers during the depression. The architecture is a mixture of styles popular in the 1930s – Park Service Rustic, New Mexico/Santa Fe and Territorial. There is a lot of stone work.

One of the "Bottomless" Lakes - Lea Lake

Nice sites and sights

This park was established in 1933 and was the first state park in New Mexico. It is named after nine small lakes (sinkholes) located along the escarpment of the Pecos River, their greenish‑blue colour gives the illusion of great depth but in fact the deepest, Lea Lake, is only 90’ deep. Apparently named by some cowboys who tied some of their ropes together and weighted them down to see if they could find the bottom of the lake. It was a very nice little campground on Lea Lake. We surmised that the lake and the pavilion were popular recreation sites.

Our main purpose here though was visiting Roswell. I have to say I was disappointed. I was expecting a lot of fun Alien kitsch - displays/exhibits, spaceships and little green men on the streets. Roswell is, in fact, a relatively ordinary town that used to host a military base. There are quite a few “alien” related businesses and tours; but, they appear to be serious about the 1947 UFO incident.

We took a tour of the important sites concerning the 1947 crash. Our guide seemed to have extensive knowledge of the incident and it was very entertaining. I certainly knew very little about the "crash" that has made Roswell famous. I think something was covered up at the time; however, I’m not convinced it was space ship debris and extraterrestrial corpses. Who really knows?

We continued our New Mexico adventures at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. There are only a few campgrounds in the area and most were full. We did manage to get a site at White’s City just outside the national park. This “city” consists of a sketchy RV park, a hotel, a post office, a gas station, a commercial establishment offering T-shirts and souvenirs, and an empty grocery store. The laundromat was closed – ½ of the building was closed. Our “site” was a parking spot up against a fence. Across the road from us were several abandoned adobe cabins that might have been part of the motel at one time. Charlie White started the enterprise in the early 1920s and reading about it on the internet I imagine it was a really happening place … maybe … at one time. Today, it’s just sad. But we had a place to stay while we visited the caverns.

The Carlsbad Caverns National Park, located in the Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, contains over 100 caves and covers approximately 73 square miles. It was a lovely drive to the Visitor Center and the Carlsbad Cavern that gave the name to the park. Wow, this place is really organized and the staff are great at shepherding visitors. To begin with, we had to book a time to visit, at a cost of $2, before arriving at the park.

The national park was established in 1930 and in 1995 it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Natural Site. The primary attraction is the show cave – Carlsbad Cavern. The natural entrance to this cavern is a steep 1.25 miles with several switchbacks descending to 750 feet. In 1932, the park opened a large visitor center with two elevators. The suggested way to visit the cavern is to hike down and take the elevator up. We decided to take the elevator down and up since walking is quite a struggle for me now-a-days. Fortunately, I was able to take my walker.

Using the elevator both ways meant we would only see the large limestone chamber named the Big Room. It is almost 4,000’ long, 625’ wide and at the highest point 255’ high. It is the largest chamber in North America. It is spectacular. The formations made by the stalactites (down from the ceiling) and stalagmites (up from the floor) are beautiful. The calcium carbonate deposits create a variety of different forms of speleothems* – columns, soda straws, draperies and popcorn! They estimate there are still hundreds of miles of tunnels unexplored in this cavern.

It is cold and very humid in the cave making it hard to breathe but I am so glad I made the effort.

We finally finished the trail around the Big Room back to the entrance/exit area where we got off the elevator. What we found there was a huge line-up of people waiting to return to the surface. There was only one elevator running! Again I was very glad to have my walker because it meant I could sit while waiting but poor Jerry had to stand the whole time. It felt like we were waiting for ever but it was actually only about an hour. The elevator took two minutes round trip and held 15 people at a time. We learned that this was a regularly scheduled shut down for maintenance. I wondered why the number of visitors weren’t limited that day knowing there would only be one operating elevator. Thankfully, there was a very nice modern washroom near the elevators.

We think they are working/fundraising to implement an LED lighting array as the current system is mono/sepia coloured only and fluorescent and incandescent. The folks there have to have training on changing a lightbulb so they do not damage the exhibits. The existing lighting was designed by a Hollywood lighting designer - way back in the early days.

Many of these formations were given names by the young man who first explored the caverns. I unfortunately, can't remember them.