Carlsbad
Carlsbad Caverns really are one of the wonders of the world. However, we have to go back because we didn’t see it all and my pictures inside the cave didn’t come out very well. It was fascinating, though! We took the “King’s Palace” guided tour, which includes a vast array of formations and pools, and of course hearing the guide’s spiel was an added attraction.
On the way back to the campground we took a slight detour: the Scenic Loop Road, which winds around for 16.8 miles of high desert country.
Click on the image for a larger version. Image from Google Earth.
At the point on the map labeled “Photo Vista” I took this picture of El Capitan and Guadalupe Peak:
El Capitan is the mountain that drops off abruptly on the southern end. Guadalupe Peak, or Signal Peak, is the summit just to the right of it. Both are in Texas — although just barely — and Guadalupe Peak is the highest point in Texas at 8745 feet. El Capitan isn’t much smaller, at 8085 feet. They are at the southern point of the Guadalupe Mountains, the eastern part of which makes a shallow arc to the northeast up to about White’s City, where you leave the highway to go to the national park.
Tomorrow we leave on the way to Dallas and thence north. We’ll be in Texas until Wednesday, then stop in Grove, Oklahoma and Carthage, Missouri before heading up through St. Joseph (where we’ll stop to pick up the mail and check on the house) and on to Omaha for a few days.