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