Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

   Settling  into our little (and I mean little!) home, we have assumed different tasks. Sky is the pilot and mechanic. I am the navigator and research specialist. Lily is our attendant, assuring the hatches stay battened. Lotus is the motivational speaker and eagle eye lookout. 

After leaving Texas Hill Country, we were looking to break up a long desolate stretch on 1-10, which is how we discovered the Caverns of Sonora. Then yesterday we visited world famous Carlsbad Caverns. What a great yen and yang of geology! Sonora is  an intimate, living, growing show cave. Carlsbad's caverns are vast, magnificent and mostly dry. Both caverns were formed by  sulphuric acid.   The formations- stalactites, stalagmites, helictites, drapery, columns etc. are made of both calcite and gypsum that are present in the dripping water. Carlsbad made me think of the Hobbit, native tribal councils, dragons, cathedrals, the sacred and mystical. Some geologists think these two are even connected, although 130 miles apart.  Much of both caverns remain unexplored. 

*Pictures below are of Carlsbad. See Lilye's post to compare the two.