Day 3

Carlsbad Caverns are truly a spectacular site.
We started the first self guided tour by taking the Natural Entrance.

Natural Entrance

Jim White, a cowboy working for the X X X ranch, observed what he thought was smoke.  What he thought was smoke was actually bats, flying out of a cave.  He said he estimated the number of bats to be in the millions.
Jim reasoned if there were that many bats the cave must be quite large.  Probably the understatement of the year. 1901.
Jim was not the first to discover the cavern.  It was well known by the ranchers and cowboys working the area.  Jim was the first to explore the caverns.  Later he would act as guide for scientist and surveyors studying and mapping the caverns.
Of course the, the beautiful switch back wasn't there when Jim did his exploring.  His first entry into the caverns was done by lower himself down using a 200 ft. Rope.
 

The Natural Entrance trail is approximately 1 1/2 miles long and ends at the Big Room.  From there the second  self guided tour is the "Big Room".  This is another 1 1/2 mile tour but not as physically demanding.
I think the most interesting part for me was a place called top of the cross.  If you looked very close you could see a rope hanging from the ceiling.  The distance is about 250 ft.  The interesting part is how that rope got there.

Whales Mouth

The National Geographic Explorers were measuring, exploring and mapping the caverns.  They saw a large hole in the roof and thought maybe it lead to another cave.  Using helium balloons they were able to maneuver a rope around a large stalactite.  After testing it numerous times one member of the group bravely ascended the rope.  We weren't told if he volunteered or if he drew the short straw.  We were told that the hole went back several feet and ended.  The ropes were left in place just in case further exploration of that area would be necessary. 
We stayed until after dusk to watch the bats come out of the cave.  Interestingly they come out of the cave in a series of counter-clockwise circles and then fly to the South and the Pecos River where they consume large quantities of insects.  Cheryl hopes most of them are mosquitoes.  She's still trying to figure out why God made mosquitoes. 
I think it was to
feed the bats!

One part of the Big Room