A hole in the ground…
Leaving Alamogordo, the road turns dramatically east as we leave town on Highway 82 and immediately begin climbing the abrupt western face of the Sacramento Mountains. The Sacramento Mountains are the last range of the Rocky Mountains before the vast plains of the Chihuahuan Desert stretch to the eastern horizon. They are not a very high mountain range, rising sharply from the Tularosa Basin in the first 15 miles and then slowly falling to the desert. This is the historical home of the Mescalero Apache and is an oasis in the middle of the desert. Think of a ramp with the sharp edge at Alamogordo and the slope falling off to the east. In the first 60 miles after leaving Alamogordo, the progression of the landscape goes from desert to mountains and back to desert. First, here’s a picture from an overlook at the top of the mountain plateau looking west across the basin floor, then a picture of the valley that we are following in the middle of the range heading east, and finally a picture of the desert floor.
After driving another hour through the desert (with yucca replacing sage brush), a line of green rises on the horizon. The town of Artesia is a green oasis in the desert.
Artesia, NM
Artesia sits on the western edge of the vast Permian Basin that stretches on through Texas and as such, shares the west Texas heritage. The Permian Basin covers southeast New Mexico and west Texas and is one of the most productive oil producing regions in the nation. The area around Artesia was originally part of the Chisum cattle empire but homesteaders were attracted to the area in the late 1880’s due to the presence of a fresh water aquifer under the desert that was easily tapped by drilling artesian wells. The railroad came to the area in the 1890’s and the town of Artesia was officially incorporated in 1905. The aquifer was not as bountiful as first thought so development stalled but then traces of oil were found in some of the wells and the next stage of Artesia’s history unfolded. In 1924 oil rig Illinois #3 started gushing oil and the rest, as they say, is history. Today several regional oil companies have their head quarters in town and the Navajo refinery dominates the sky just east of the downtown area. The refinery, started in 1939, is now the largest refinery in New Mexico. Artesia is a small town of about 11,000 people and it has a very “tidy” Main Street that is decorated with a series of large bronze sculptures commemorating the heritage of the town.
“The Derrick Floor” is a representation of a four-man crew on a drilling rig. Built life-size, the rig is cut off 34 feet above the ground.
Below are four sculptures on Main Street. Clockwise from the top left they are “The Vaquero” (Spanish for cowboy), “The Trail Boss”, “The Rustler”, and “The First Lady of Artesis” (memoralizing Sallie Chisum, niece of the founder of the Chisum cattle ranch and key player in the early development of Artesia.)
But these were not the most impressive structures in town. Remember, Artesia is a small town of 11,000 people out in the middle of the desert. There are about 750 students in the high school. A statement about the town (and its’ affinity for Texas style athletics!) is easily seen in the largest structure in town other than the oil refinery, the high school football stadium. Sam Barlow Bruins and Thurston Colts, feast upon this and weep…
(For those not in the know, Sam Barlow (about 1,800 students) and Thurston (about 1,400) students are the two large Oregon high schools that I had the privilege of leading. Neither had a football stadium and both desperately wanted one…)
In the center of Artesia our route turns south on Highway 285 and we head for one of the geographical wonders of the world, the Carlsbad Caverns.
Carlsbad Caverns
Just east of Artesia, the Pecos River runs north/south, rising in the mountains of northern New Mexico and running down the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains until it enters the Rio Grande in western Texas. I can’t really say that there is a river valley as we are in the vast, undulating plains of the desert and the river just meanders across the landscape, a narrow green ribbon in what normally is a sea of beige. I say “normally” because this year the desert is blooming. This is the end of the monsoon season and this year has been one of the wettest in recent years and there’s a tint of green in the landscape.
Notwithstanding the green, especially the sage brush, this is still desert and we travel along the Pecos River (again, let’s keep perspective, the “river” is barely moving and about 3 to 10 feet wide meandering across a much wider flood plain…)
Up and over a small rise the town of Carlsbad straggles along the highway. Not particularly picturesque, Carlsbad is home to about 30,000 people. Mineral springs in the area were believed to be good for the health so the town was christened “Carlsbad” after the famous European spa. Tourism, oil and cattle fueled the town’s growth, particularly after the first exploration of the Carlsbad Caverns in 1898. About 20 miles southwest of the town of Carlsbad on Highway 62, we turn north at White City for a 7 mile trip up Walnut Canyon as the road climbs up to the top of the bluffs that lay to the north.
On top of the bluffs the plateau stretches west to the Guadalupe Mountains in the distance but to the southeast at the edge of the bluff overlooking the plains, the Carlsbad Cavern Visitors’ Center comes into view. This complex essentially sits on “top” of the caverns, nearly 79 stories above the floor of the largest room in the cave cluster.
The Carlsbad Cavern is one of nearly 300 documented caves in a fossil reef that was formed under an ancient seabed millions of years ago. The existence of caves was well known to Native Americans and early locals, but no one had actually penetrated the cave to any distance until 1898 when a 16-year old cowboy named Jim White first entered the cave in search of the origin of the nightly flight of millions of bats that darkened the sky. A photographer, Ray Davis, took the first pictures in the “Big Room” between 1915 and 1918 and they were later published in 1923 in the New York Times. Later that year the government created Carlsbad Caverns National Monument. The path from the natural entrance to the floor of the Big Room is nearly 1.25 miles of walking down the equivalent of a 79 story building via switchbacks and through several smaller caves. At the base of the entrance hike the cave opens up into a visitors area where there are restrooms, a snack bar, and the doors to the elevators that the smart people used to descend to the cave floor from the above ground visitors’ center rather than gasping and dragging the walk down from the natural entrance (as one 60 year old man did!) The visitor’s area leads to a large natural tunnel that then opens up into the “Big Room”, where another trail of slightly over 1 mile winds its’ way up, around and through a large 8.2 acre cave with assorted extensions going off around the perimeter. The section of the cave complext that can be visited is a small percentage of the actual caverns. Exploration has confirmed that the cave complex extends at least 112 miles under the ground! The temperature of the cavern is a constant 56 degrees so I’m wearing my hoodie, though by the time I got to the cave floor I was drenched with sweat. Perhaps it might have been smarter to take the elevator down! The path is paved with hand rails and many features of the cave are lighted, though my poor little Canon “One Shot” worked hard to take good pictures. The pictures will be in the order that I took them so you can walk through the cavern with me. With minimal interruption, sit back and enjoy the Carlsbad Caverns.
At this point in time I have hiked about a third of a mile and entered the main part of the “Big Room” Suddenly the focus of the exploration took a much more serious turn. As I turned a corner there was an elderly couple in front of me clearly in distress. The man, who had been using a walker, was slumped over on the guard rail and his wife was holding him up by his belt. As I got up to them she let go and he fell to the ground, apparently not breathing. I asked if they needed help and she was a bit confused but nodded. I knelt down and helped lay him down on his back, and then the adrenaline started to flow as it did not appear that he was breathing. For the first time after all those years of much complained about CPR training, I began administering CPR while his wife ran back to the snack bar at the base of the elevators to get help. After doing CPR for a short while the man was able to open his eyes and he was clearly breathing more easily, though he still couldn’t sit up. I had some water to share and then we sat there, waiting for the ranger to come. By the time the ranger and medic got to us, the man was able to stand up and they helped him, with his walker, to return back to the visitors’ center. I, adrenaline pumping, continued on my way through the caverns and so shall you…
By the time I finished up my 2+ mile hike I have to say I wasn’t as appreciative of the scenery as I probably should have been. I finally dragged myself back to the base of the elevator and gladly rode the 750 feet up to the surface (where it was 92 degrees.) Later I was able to relive the experience through the pictures and be a bit more attentive and appreciative! The Carslbad Caverns truly are one of the wonders of the world and while I was fascinated by the experience, can’t say that I will do this again. It was definitely worth it once.
Next up: Aliens in the desert?
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