Sunset Reef BLM Campground (by Asher)

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Sunset Reef was a boondocking, dry camping site. That means that it was free, but there was no hookups. 

There was however, a fire ring/grill and a picnic table with a cover. There wasn't anything special about Sunset Reef. It was just a base for Guadalupe Mts. NP and Carlsbad Caverns NP.

Because of a planning error (we were supposed to go to Carlsbad Caverns NP from Carlsbad KOA), we went to Guadalupe Mts. NP on Thursday. We soon found out that there's no scenic drive there, it's mostly trails. We did a trail called called the Smith Spring Trail. Back East, a spring isn't something to hike to. But out West, it is. The spring was cool. There were pools of water and trees! On the way back, there was a pretty sunset.

  

We went to Carlsbad Caverns NP. Dad got us self-guided cave tickets for a dollar each! We hiked down a bunch of switch-backs into the cave (a.k.a. huge hole in the ground). Even before we got to the Big Room, we knew one thing for sure: Mammoth Cave (at least the part we went to) is small compared to Carlsbad Caverns. It was huge! And there were so many formations: stalagmites, stalactites, cave popcorn, draperies, and other stuff.



                                   

We walked around Iceberg Rock, a huge boulder that fell off the ceiling thousands of years ago.

The Big Room can be described in one word: big. It's the largest chamber in North America at 8.2 acres. At its highest point, it's 255 feet high. It could fit two Capitol Buildings in it. There's a stalagmite there that is 62 feet tall!

One of the formations there was called Rock of Ages. I called it the Walrus. When we got to the end, we used the bathroom (yes, there's a bathroom in the cave) and took the elevator 750 feet to the top. The bathroom was weird, you couldn't tell you were in a cave on the inside. As you were walking out, the hallway turned to rock.

After we went on a short hike, we went to the amphitheater and got a free ranger talk on bats and the cave. It was a neat talk, even though the bats had already left the cave for the winter. When we got back, dad made hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner. Carlsbad Caverns is definitely my favorite cave.













Location: Sunset Reef Campground, campsite, New Mexico 88220, turn on Washington Ranch Road - approx 300 ft to RT unmarked gravel road - take this to, NM 88220, USA

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