February 25, 2010

• Loop-de-’Lupes

  

  Just back from my latest epic car trip. 2925 miles in 5 days. I have a long list of these kind of trips I want to do, and thanks to my buddy Ian, now I can cross one off my list: Guadalupe-Carlsbad Caverns trip.

  

  The idea, of course, was to make it a big loop and see as many National Parks/Monuments/etc. as possible. We left the SLC Friday morning.

  

  You might remember, the initial idea was the SW SD trip, but with sketchy weather, we decided to travel south… that way, we’d miss all the snow and cold… right?

  

  That evening, we hit monument valley at sunset, which was quite nice. That night, we stayed with Ian’s mom, to get our only shower/bed of the trip. It was nice seeing all of them, and Jerome, though it was unfortunate that I didn’t get to meet Liza’s bf Ehlan.

  

  I did get to play with the Pedersen family dog Susie, which was nice, but it made me really miss Lulu.

  

  Saturday

  

  Our first park was Saguaro, a park that I had to talk Ian into going (“I’ve seen those before…”) which later he said was his favorite thing on the trip. It was beautiful!

  

  You might have a similar thoughts about the park, but it worth a visit, if only to pose with a cactus.

  

  We did the Valley View overlook trail, but it started pouring! Kinda hard to take a pic when you are soaked…

  

  The thing that made the visit was the glimmer on the freshly-rained hills and cacti at sunset… pictures could never do it justice.

  

  That evening, we had the best meal of the trip, at a little diner called the Horseshoe Cafe in Benson, AZ. Real, never frozen, homemade Chicken Fried Steak and Chopped Steak… Mmmm! It’s these kinda places that totally remind me of the Border and make me wanna go back soon.

  That night, we camped at Chiricahua (cheer-ee-COW-ah) NM. Oh, and by camped, I mean slept in the back of my truck. Oh, and by slept, I mean lay awake as snow plops on my truck (at least me). You see, it was just warm enough that night to melt the snow slowly off the trees, leading to irregularly-timed clumps of snow falling on my truck… a VERY bad nights sleep.

  

  Sunday

  

  So, it was snowy at Chiricahua: too snowy, in fact. The main view road was closed, so the only pics we could get were by walking near the campground.

  

  Carl was almost out of gas, so it was probably a good thing. It was a pretty place, at least the parts we could see.

  

  From there, we drove into New Mexico for the first time for both of us. Las Cruces was a neat town with great views.

  

  Next stop was White Sands NM. It is an old lake bed with gypsum sand dunes!

  

  It was great and beautiful!

  

  There was a lot of unique flora and fauna… in fact, their are indigenous species that have “whitewashed” themselves to live in and around the dunes.

  

  Unlike many protected areas, a place like this encourages recreation! In fact, they sell snow-type sleds and disks, wax, and let you slide down the hills!

  
  

  It was fun, though we didn’t find a super tall dune.

  

  We made the best of what we had, though.

  

  But had to deal with the consequences… Ian was pulling hydrated calcium sulfate out of his hair the entire rest of the trip.

  

  We drove that evening toward Carlsbad, NM, and camped at Guadalupe NP. I still find it amazing at the strange octanes you find on the road, like this one in NM.

  

  Monday

  

  We woke up in the Guadalupe Mountains…in Texas… yeah. We thought it’d be strange being in that infamous state, and it was. Oh well, we were BARELY in Texas, at least.

  

  Guadalupe NP was my favorite part of the trip. It was amazing to see the contrast between the desert and these immense mountains.

  

  The topography (or at least the cliffy-ness) is created because this is the world’s best exposed reef, though it is not a coral reef, but a algal reef. It has a special trail called the “Permian Reef Trail,” an 4.5 mile hike up the reef. We didn’t have time to do that, but next time, I will do it for sure. One thing I saw was unbelievable.

  

  Wow… can you say geobigatry? What’s next, separate water fountains for rock lickers?

  

  Next on the trip was Carlsbad Caverns NP. Even the drive in, up this windy road, was neat.

  

  The main word I’d use to describe the cave: HUGE.

  

  It is unique in that this cave was formed as a reaction with petroleum and groundwater creating H2S, in basically the same formation that makes up the reef in Guadalupe NP. This cave is not a gradual eating away by groundwater and H2CO3.

  

  It still has formations like other caves, but 95% of them are inactive.

  

  But don’t let that fool you, this is a must-visit cave!

  

  In case you haven’t realized, the Permian stratigraphy is a big deal in that area.

  

  Later that day, we headed north, through Roswell.

  

  We considered going into this UFO museum, even going in, but as we walked up, a van with Texas plates pulled up, and a group of guys (frat?) pilled out, yelling, screaming, and in aluminium-foil hats. This was a little too much for us, so we moved on.

  

  We continued heading north and then west through rough weather and Albuquerque. Go ‘topes!

  

  Just before dusk, we were able to hit El Malpais NM.

  

  It was impressive… recent lava flows, sandstone cliffs, arches… another place I definitely need to visit in more depth.

  

  You can tell how snowy it was. That night, the plan was to stay at Petrified Forest NP. One problem: there is no camping at Petrified Forest NP. We were forced to find a dirt road somewhere outta the way and make camp there. It was cold.

  

  Tuesday

  

  Did I mention it was cold? The closest weather station I could find (Gallap, NM) had the low at 0°F. Very, very cold…

  

  In the morning, we hit Petrified Forest NP… also snowy at the northern end.

  

  Hit some nice petroglyphs before moving on to the main attraction.

  

  If you have never been, it’s a surreal place. Trees just lying all over the place.

  

  And when you think about how much was plundered before this was protected, it’s even more amazing.

  

  Old faithful, the largest tree, is behind the southern visitors center.

  

  After we left Petrified Forest, we headed up the 191 back home, with one more stop: Canyon de Chelly.

  

  It’s pronounced “dey shay”, but it is a butchering/misspelling of the Navaho word Tséyi’, meaning rock canyon.

  

  The beauty of this place really, really snuck up on me… I was taken aback. The main reason: the 800-foot sandstone obelisk called Spider Rock. Simply amazing.

  

  The rest of the canyon was filled with cliff dwellings, a beautiful, winding river, and awe-inspiring views.

  

  After that, we drove into the night, back home.

  

  Another, great, great trip. And the best part: the South Dakota trip is still to-be-planned! Any takers?

  • 1:28 pm
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