07 July, 2019

Batty Batty Bat

Remember The Count from Sesame Street?  He had a song about his childhood in Transylvania called "The Batty Bat".  This is the song that Jen has been singing the chorus to, off and on, since realizing we'd be able to see Carlsbad Caverns and the evening bat flight, the latter of which we'd planned to attend the evening of our first day's journey.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature had the final say, as Carlsbad was hit by a huge thunderstorm, which rolled in just as we were driving out to the caverns.

The next day was bright and cheery.  Large amounts of standing water owing to Carlsbad's utter disdain for drainage aside, the storm had passed.  Heartened, we headed for the Caverns for a second time to hike as much of them as we could.










I remember first hiking the descent into the Caverns when I was a kid, maybe 9 or 10.  Much has changed since then (I recall the information station and gift shop being a tiny dusty little building much closer to the amphitheater), but that initial series of switchbacks winding down into the cave mouth was just as impressive now as it was then.










Being the height of tourist season, we had a lot of company.  We took our time, stopped to take photos, and generally let people go by us if they wished.  Despite Jen's injuries, we passed a lot of people.  She is tough as hell and I admire her so much.




The last bit of daylight before we'd be relying entirely on artificial lighting.



































































At some point in this series of photos, we transitioned from the descent hike (around 1.3mi) to the Big Room hike (about 1.5mi).  We opted not to stop at the snack bar-slash-gift-shop at the bottom (this used to be a full-blown restaraunt; I remember getting a hamburger here when I was a kid), and went straight into the Bug Room hike.  I can't emphasize how remarkable this is for Jen with her terrible foot injuries, to be able to go this far on such an intense trail.  She is amazing.