New State, New Mexico.

I finally finished my grand tour of Texas. After Big Bend National Park I drove along 170 west to get back north. Confusing, I know, but I highly recommend it should you decide to go to the park. It curves and dips like a roller coaster around mountains and follows the Rio Grande to Presidio, Texas, where you can hang a right and head up to Marfa or turn around and do it all over again. It travels through the outskirts of Big Bend State Park, a much more remote landscape than the National Park, with hikes along the way. Of the few stops I made, other than for photos, hiking in the Closed Canyon proved to be the best detour. The narrow canyon walls curve effortlessly into the ground, soft gravel filling in the rest of the path, and the further into the canyon you go the smaller the space between the walls become. At one point, I could reach out and touch each side at the same time, keep in mind I'm only 5' 6". Eventually it opens to the Rio Grande and Mexico, or at least I assume it does. There was a point in which if I had jumped down to the next landing, over a rather large collection of water that seemed to be appearing more frequently, I would have made it. Unfortunately, if I had, I would have no idea how to get back. In case it isn't obvious by me being able to write to all of you, I didn't risk it. Instead, I continued on and stopped in Alpine, Texas, for a night. Alpine is a small college town that, from above, really does look like one of the prettiest tiny towns in Texas. That's how my couch surfing host described it at the top of our hike while I admired the mountains completely surrounding me. I made sure, since I was only one town over, to go see the Marfa lights everybody kept telling me about. I am here to report that while it is a really cool phenomenon that is still a mystery, the best thing about my experience was the beautiful sunset. The every-so-often, white twinkling lights in the cloudy sky just above the horizon at dusk were anticlimactic. The few that appeared out of nowhere, some brighter than others, pulsed like lightning bugs very, very far off into the distance. I'm still a believer and think it's interesting that even though some may say it's been debunked, the cause of the lights are a mystery. People say it could be heat or even traffic lights across the way, who knows. All I know is, I got an ok showing. Apparently if you go when it's really clear you'll have better luck. Hopefully that's the case if any of you go and you'll see them dance in lights of red and blue like I was expecting. After a peculiar drive past Prada Marfa, a roadside art installation of a Prada store with a door purposefully made to never open, and the exploration of the ruins of Shafter Ghost Town, population: 33, I made my way out of the Lone Star State. Like I've said before, at the start of this trip when people asked me what I was most excited about, I said Texas. Why? Maybe because it seemed to be the opposite of anything I was used to, maybe because it's so huge yet so vastly different, or maybe I still don't know. Either way, I know I had a great time. Special shoutout to everybody who contributed to that along the way!

Before I left Texas, there was one more thing I had to do; hike to the top of it. The top of Texas is in Guadalupe Mountains National Park atop Guadalupe Peak which stands at 8,749 ft tall. It's right next to the border of New Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. That's right folks, I went to two parks in two days, lucky me. I almost camped in the park the night before my hike. I practically broke a sweat setting up my tent in the strong wind. I had just hammered in my stakes with a rock, debating how the tent would make it through the next few hours, let alone the night, when my couch surfing request came through. Sighing in relief, I headed for shelter. I needed a good night's rest anyway if I was going to hike 3,000 ft in 4.2 miles and then make it back down again. I started bright and early, with winds of up to 65 mph reported, I was not risking being blown off that mountain. The steep hike was an uphill battle and must have had at least thirty switchbacks. Every time I made a new turn I thought to myself, "I can't be much farther;" how wrong I was. Climbing and climbing, the uniqueness of the Guadalupe Mountains shown through, desert turned to forest and back again and small colorful flowers sprung up in the oddest places. Flanked by other peaks and day hikes, the trail on the mountain across the way somehow looked to be windier than my hike, a reassuring feeling. The peak was covered in a rocky field, yellow wildflowers filling in the cracks, and at the top stood a monument to the pilots of American Airlines who have flown through there - random, I know. The view was breathtaking and the horizon faded into the distance, the mountainous landscape details came through clearly and made intricate patterns in the ground below. I was nearly knocked over by the wind and decided that was my cue to head back. Since the hike only took me 5 hours to complete instead of the 6-8 I had planned for, I veered off course at the end to do a short hike I didn't want to miss. The rock covered path to Devil's Hall was more than my tired legs could handle. I slipped on many boulders I had to climb over and watched my step carefully with the smaller, loose ones covering the ground. Guided by man made small rock towers, I was rewarded with a narrow alleyway of layered rocks that made the world look like it was on an axis. It really was a hallway of rocks, the walls tall and layers reminiscent of stripes. The 11.2 miles for the day was exhausting but well worth it. I found Manzanita trees on the hike to Devil's Hall. Rainbow trees are still my favorite but these are a close second. The orange, wax and plastic looking bark twists around a regular tree with the typical bark texture, like it's consuming it and turning it into another. Each one was different than the last and like nothing I had ever seen before. If you can't tell, I'm a bit of a treehugger - shocker.

I'm going to start this section about Carlsbad Caverns National Park with a riddle, think about it as you keep reading.

It cannot be seen, it cannot be felt. It cannot be heard, cannot be smelt. It lies behind stars and under hills and empty holes it fills. It comes first follows after, ends life, kills laughter.

What is it?

Carlsbad Caverns National Park was my first, and certainly not my last, National Park in New Mexico. If you're keeping track, New Mexico is my nineteenth state. Unlike Mammoth Cave, Carlsbad is a wet cavern meaning stalactites and stalagmites are everywhere to be seen and the cave is still creating new formations, although no flowing rivers or streams run through it. The natural entrance is the main way in and there is an elevator for the handicapped which is also everyone's way out. It's the same entrance where during the summer months as many as 300,000 bats fly out of it at night. The steep, paved walkway sharply cuts back and forth for over a mile to get down into the cave, the equivalent of seventy nine stories. Overly excited about this since I missed the natural entrance at Mammoth Cave, I descended into the year-round 56 degree climate. The entrance was huge, so huge there is enough room for amphitheater seating for the bat viewing. I quietly took my time through the first bit of the entrance, listening to the birds chirping and swooping above, their tunes echoing and creating a pretty, musical, wind chime effect. The self guided tour through the big room felt like it went on forever, the ground opened up like small caverns or canyons to reveal more formations and walls pushed back exposing shaped tunnels that went to who knows where. I was lucky enough to grab the last spot on the ten o'clock tour of the King's Palace, a large and intricate area of the cave with Queen's Draperies and a great backstory. When Ranger Charlie asked for a volunteer that had to be "a decent height," I raised my hand, not knowing what the job was or if I was tall enough. Turns out, I was the caboose and his anchor, hence the height so he could see me in the back. I got the wonderful task of making sure everyone was keeping up with the group. It wasn't so bad though, it made it easy to set up my tripod at stops along the way. As a thank you, Charlie took me back through by myself while he turned off the lights and showed me special things here and there he purposefully skipped on the group tour. A bat skeleton stuck in the ground was one of the small details I would have missed had I not volunteered for that mystery position. Moral of the story, don't be shy and raise your hand. Jim White first discovered this cave in 1928 when he was sixteen years old and spent the rest of his life working in the cave as a guano miner and then as one of the first rangers, exploring every nook and cranny he could. During the tour, Charlie turned off the lights and in total darkness told us a story of Jim's exploration. While wandering about a large room in the cave and setting his backpack and lantern set aside, mistake number one, the lantern went out. Panicking a bit, he gathered his wits and found three matches in his pocket. His plan was to use one to get back to his bag and lantern, one to find the fluid to fill the lantern, and one to light the lantern. He lit the first match, saw his lantern, and headed that way. Once again next to his lantern but not his bag, he was met with darkness. Flashbacks of my short time caving came to mind as he continued. Jim struck the second match and because no good story would be complete without a bit of poor luck and suspense, it was a dud. The fear of being lost in the massive cave starting to set in, he felt around for his backpack, found it, managed to do some deep breathing and fill the lantern. The third match was successful, it must have been otherwise we wouldn't know this story and Jim would have been lost to the cave, presumably forever. Even after that near heart attack experience, Jim kept coming back. After all, caves are the final frontier. We've explored the highest peaks of the earth but not the lowest depths, even caves as well known as Carlsbad still have so much left to be discovered. The possibilites in the dark are what keep explorers coming back time and time again. This brings me to the answer of the riddle; darkness. It's a riddle from the Hobbit and how Charlie started his tour. Seems fitting, doesn't it?

While in Carlsbad, I stayed with Wade, his family, two friends, and five dogs. It was a packed house but I was so lucky they found room for me and made me feel right at home. I got to go to my first drive-in movie and even tried the green chiles New Mexico is famous for. I could have had at least five more of those burritos and still wanted more. The best part about my stop in Carlsbad was meeting Wade and realizing that he was more excited for my tour of New Mexico than I was. He helped me come up with a plan for the next few days until I get to Albuquerque so I don't miss anything. Did you know there are over forty National Park Sites in this state?! I don't know how I am going to do them all, I am sure there are some I am going to miss. That only means there's more to come back and explore some day. Time to zig zag through the bottom of New Mexico!

- G.

The Photo:
The Top of Texas.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas.
4/27/17.