Caving Photos

Finally got pictures to share with you on some of the fun we had with my friend Kathy! She visited us last weekend and we took her on a whirlwind tour of the cave. This included two 'Off Trail' tours, one of 'Lower Cave' which I led and another of 'The Hall of The White Giant', which Tammy led! Lots of fun and a few pictures to share...

John disappearing in the Hall of White Giant...

John again, this time going up the ladder in Hall of White Giant

Lower Cave tour

I led the tour into Lower Cave...

Kathy in Lower Cave

Kathy climbing the rope in Hall of White Giant

Kathy and me in Hall of the White Giant!

Me again!

John and Me in Hall of the White Giant

A few more weeks at the cave... anyone else want to visit????

Verticle training

Hi Friends,

I spent the morning with Jason from Cave Resources learning the basics of verticle training. At first, everything was rather confusing, names of things, the unfamilar feel of gear that didn't quite fit my petite body.

By the end of the morning, and some equipment changes to something a little smaller, I was using the equipment, getting myself off the ground, then changing gear to repel back down safely. Still have more training to do, but when I get the official approval, I will try verticle caving in one of the caves at the park. Looks like December will be a busy month! :)

I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Love to all,
VAL & JOHN

Thanksgiving

I'm thankful for a wonderful husband who spent the entire day cooking a turkey in a tiny RV kitchen while I was working at the cave. He did a great job, everything tasted yummy and it still smells great in here! :)

I'm thankful to my friends and family who have followed us through this crazy journey. I miss you all.

Hope your day was as blessed as ours.

Love to you all,

VAL & JOHN

Friends

Hi All,

It's been a weekend of ups and downs. For many of my co-workers, it was their last day of the season for them at the Cave. There were too many goodbyes and quite a few tears shed by us all. I will miss my new friends dearly and the next few weeks at the Caverns won't be the same without them. The new winter seasonals are here, and I'm sure they're good people, but they won't be able to replace the friends I've made over the long hot summer.

I would have been very down this weekend except for a wonderful bright spot. My terrific Glacier friend, Kathy flew down to visit us this weekend! Since we didn't get to Glacier NP this summer, we missed seeing Kathy, Mel, Jen, and the rest of the gang. Spending time with Kathy this weekend filled a big void in our summer.

Kathy has never been to Carlsbad Caverns, but we filled her weekend with a lot of cave time. I arranged for two off trail tours for her. The first, and in my opinion the best tour we offer is "The Hall of The White Giant". This is a true caving tour where you have to do a belly crawl, squeeze through tight places, climb ladders, ropes until you get to the "White Giant". The first 'obstacle' is the corkscrew. That's how you enter that part of the cave. You twist and contort your body through the rocks and disappear into the rocks. Other than the light from your helmut, it's totally dark in this portion of the cave.

Less than an hour after arriving at the cave, we were walking in the dark, down the Natural Entrance of the cave. Kathy is always a good sport, and went willlingly, although she must have had some reservations. Despite them, she manuvered through the 'pinch', moved through the chimney, climbed the rope and ladder with great enthusiasm and plenty of joy. If the smile on her face was any indication of her feelings, I think she caught the cave bug.

On Saturday, we continued our exploration of Carlsbad Caverns with the more traditional, self-guided tour of The Big Room, and later in the morning we walked down the Natural Entrance (which she did the night before, but in the dark). We missed the King's Palace tour, but I had permission to walk her through the area. She really enjoyed this beautiful part of the cave.

The afternoon, I was leading an off trail tour of "Lower Cave". This tour is not as physical as "The Hall of the White Giant", but is beautiful in its own right. Another rope, and a series of ladders takes you down into "Lower Cave". Then you can view cave pearls, see the bottom of The National Geographic Pit, and view a formation which is approximately 600,000 years old among other beautiful things.

In the short time that my good friend was here, we squeezed in a lot of caving. Next time she visits we hope to add some hiking in our sister park, Guadalupe National Park, since hiking was what brought us together in the first place. Thanks Kathy for the visit. I think the kitties miss you, and I know John and I miss you as well. Hope you arrived home safe and Morgan forgives you for your absence!

I'll be working all week, including Thanksgiving. So have a great holiday. Pics to come soon of our weekend adventure.

Love to all,

Val & John

Seasonal employees

Hi Friends,

This next week will be a hard one at Carlsbad Caverns. Many of the summer seasonals will be leaving - their six month assignments over. Over the past six months I have made some great friends and really don't want to say goodbye to them. They will be missed dearly, but hopefully we will get another opportunity to work together soon. Regardless, there will be quite a few tears shed this week. Luckily for me, I have had my season extended for a few more weeks and won't leave until the new year.

Working as a seasonal for the Park Service gives you the opportunity to work for a variety of parks. You can apply to whatever parks you'd like to work at, and hope you score high enough on their list to get a phone call from the park. Some parks are more competitive than others. We'll see what next year brings. I would return to Carlsbad Caverns, but preferably in the winter season when it's not 100+ degrees outside. Most of you know I'd love to spend the summer at Glacier, but I'd be content at many other parks as well.

That's it for now. Need a shower before it gets much cooler tonight. We were below freezing last night. Had both the fireplace (electric) and heat (gas) on last night. Even the cats were cold!

Miss you guys,

Love,
VAL & JOHN

Balloonfest

Hi Friends,

Went to the town north of us called Artesia this weekend to enjoy their Balloon fest. Much smaller than the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, but beautiful in its own right. Most importantly, when you have to get there around sunrise, a short drive is much better.

Here are a few pics John took.

Enjoy,

VAL & JOHN

Three Rivers Petroglyphs

Hi Friends,

Went to pick up John in El Paso on Thursday, after he took a short trip back to FL to handle some pressing issues. On the advice of a friend, we decided to take the long way back to Carlsbad, via Three River Petroglyph National Site. In case you don't know, petroglyphs are rock art from Native Americans.

By taking a short hike (about a mile) on a ridge, you can see hundreds, and if you have a good eye, possibly thousands of petroglyphs. They range from animals, birds, people, geometric design and other things scientists are still debating about. Some small, only being a few inches apart, others using large rocks to create extensive designs. They were created anywhere from 900 -1400 years ago.

Sadly, the people who created these petroglyphs mysteriously vanished. At one time they believed that this community was quite large, and given how many petroglyphs we saw, it seems believable. We were glad we stopped by the site and we both wondered how long it took for them to create the images we observed. Seems amazing after hundreds of years in the hot New Mexican sun, that they have lasted. Of course, the biggest problem is theft and vandalism.

More soon,

VAL & JOHN