The Cavern and the Road to NOWHERE

5/19/10

Things are starting to happen now. We started the day by going to the caverns. Bummer, they put Sasha and I in a kennel while they had all the fun going through the cavern. After that they decided to go see Sitting Bull Falls in the Lincoln National Forest which turned out to be a long drive. On the way there is what Larry told me about the Caverns.

There are two overwhelming impressions of the Cavern: First, the entrance is steep. The way he put it is that it starts out steep; then it gets really steep; then it gets damned steep and then gets steeper. You go down about 800 feet in a about a mile. Take a look at the picture of the switchback path at the entrance to the cavern above. Second, the cavern is not just big it is huge. Take a look at the other photos above taken inside the cavern. Wow!

The best part of the afternoon (I jest) was the decision to see Sitting Bull Falls. To get there all you have to do is turn off the main road about halfway back to the town of Carlsbad from the National Park. Let me set the stage for this. Between the National Park and Carlsbad there is NOTHING but desert. The jackrabbits don’t even come out this far. So here you are in the middle of nowhere and you turn off of the main road and head off into the deep deep desert looking for a waterfall. And humans call us dogs dumb animals.

Well the road was twisty, turn-y, tarmac road which should have been a hint as to what was going to happen. Well after crossing 38 cattle guards and driving 36 miles you come to a stop sign (in the middle of the freeking desert) where you turn right. This is where the road takes you into the really remote desolate part of the desert for another 12 miles. Then low and behold you come upon this little oasis where you can get out and walk to see the falls. See the picture of the falls below.


Larry was really bummed out ‘cause everyone in town told them how spectacular it was. (Message to Larry: It’s the middle of the desert! Duh! What did you expect, Niagara falls?)

The trip was some 90 miles and took over 2 hours. During that time we did not see one other vehicle or another human being, which proves there is hope for the human race. We did see one cow and we were followed by 4 vultures.

On the way back to camp Marsha and Larry chatted about out of the way places they had been and agreed that Sitting Bull Falls was at the top of the list. They also agreed that they should remove the word “Sitting” from the name and just call it “BULL Falls.”

Tomorrow’s gonna be an domestic day; do laundry, get groceries and stuff. That’s good because Sasha and I need to catch up on our nap time.