Day 4: Fog, and Carlsbad Caverns

After our late night, we took our time getting on the road this morning. We ate breakfast at the Fort Davis Drug Store, then we headed north. We drove past the observatory through the Davis Mountains. The weather had turned cold overnight, and it was in the 40s. It rained off and on, and the mountains were very pretty with the low clouds coming over them.

We hit I-10 for a few miles, then turned north from Van Horn. We drove through more mountains, and past several large ranches. Then, we started getting into some really heavy fog. And I mean REALLY heavy fog!

It quickly became obvious that we were not going to be able to visit Guadalupe Mountains National Park today! We couldn't even see the signs for the park entrance! Fortunately, we had a good alternate plan: Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

Cold, foggy weather has no effect on a cave that's 750 feet below the surface, and stays at 57 degrees year round. We happily paid our $10 each, and took the fast elevator down to the cave. Since it was a weekday, there were very few people in the cave with us. (I've heard it can get very crowded in the summer time.) We could hear the water dripping, and it was very quiet inside.

The cave has really nice paved walkways, and it is lit very subtly to highlight the formations. The walkway is 1.3 miles and we spent about 1.5 hours walking through it. This was one of my favorite formations. It's called the Rock of Ages!

When we came out of the cave, the fog had started to lift and we could see well for the drive to Carlsbad, New Mexico where we are staying for the night. We ate a good BBQ dinner at a local place, and we are now relaxing in our room. Tomorrow, we will backtrack to see Guadalupe National Park, then start heading east to get home.