Our exploration of three national parks

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Our exploration

We had planned a long trip from early May. We wanted to give ourselves a break. Finally, we decided to go to the Guadalupe Mountain National Park and Carlsbad Cavern National Park in June. They are close to each other. We searched through the Internet and found a lot of information and reviews, and then we added the Big Bend National Park as a secret place if we have enough time.

I made a lot of food that is easy to store and prepared everything that we would need. And then, we were waiting the day’s coming.

First day

June 4th, 2004

In the early morning, I couldn’t sleep any more. I got up and opened my computer. I checked the weather and email. I seasoned some chicken legs and shrimps. It was a quiet morning, but from this day, we would begin our trip.

My husband and daughter woke up soon. After we ate the breakfast, we put our stuff in our car: This was the first time that our car carried so many things. After everything was put in the car, we set out. From Loop 610 to Highway 290, we went to Austin. The view along 290 is better than along the I-10.

When we came to Austin, there were a lot of motorcycles. They made aloud noises. We were looking at the motorcycle girls. They wore little, with a small bandana on their hair waving in the wind, and their skin was healthy brown like honey. But very soon, we found the motorcycles weren’t the landscape any more: they became our troubles. There were too many of them, the whole city was full of them. The highways had a big traffic problem and we couldn’t move. We guessed there was a motor RODEO here. We moved as a turtle, and finally, we went out of downtown Austin. But the nightmare just began. There were more and more motorcycles getting in the way. They came from each road to the highway. We had to spend more than 1.5 hours to get through Austin.

When we found the motorcycles were less and went a little faster, the road was closed. We had no idea that how long we would have to wait, so we decided to go to other roads. Then it spent us 1 more hour. We wanted to save 1 hour to the planned park, but now we lost at least 2.5 hours.

Where the I-290 merges with I-10, the road conditions were much better and we could drive at the speed limit. Because we lost a lot of time, we arrived at the park where we would camp at after 8 pm. we chose a campsite and registered. Then we used the charcoal to make our first dinner. My husband made Bar-B-Q chicken legs and shrimps. I made some salad. About half of an hour, the dinner was ready. After that long drive, we were hungry and the food was delicious. So we finished it very quickly.

After dinner, Vivian, my daughter, felt tired and told me she wanted to go home. Oh, no. We were not even beginning our trips. We took Vivian to the river in this park. Here, the river was much like a creek and flowed fast. Here was a good place for tubing. But today it was too late for tubing. Maybe tomorrow.

The river was so lovely: The water was cool and clear; we could see the stones and small fishes in the river. The wind was soft and cool; it took away the hot and tired feeling. I could smell the happiness here. We walked into the river and took some pictures.

The sky became darker and we had to go back to the campsite. We set our tent up and sat down to see the stars. Wow, so many stars. We could find the constellations that we knew very easily, we also saw many stars that we couldn’t see in the city. The sky was like navy-blue velour with a lot of diamonds. Suddenly, I found some stars flying near me. They were the fireflies. Vivian liked the fireflies very much. This was the first time she saw them.

The night became deeper and we went into our tent. This was a peaceful night and we had a good sleep.

Second Day

June 5th, 2004

In the early morning, we woke up and had our first breakfast in the wild. It was perfect: seating under the sky and near the tent, feeling the wind and perfume of grass and trees, hearing the birds’ songs and the bugs talking. The foods became better than usual.

After we finished our eating, we left the campsite and went to the river. We inflated our boat and pulled it into the water. I tried to put Vivian in the boat but the bottom of the river was too slippery to walk. We fell into the water together. Anyway, we would wet. My husband got into the boat and began their exploration. I had to go back to our car and droved to the tubing exit to pick them up.

I went to the tubing exit and a family played nearby. They tried to make a dam. The river was slowed down and smooth here. I took several pictures and awaited my captain and his first mate. But I couldn’t find them. We were missing. About 1 hour later, we found each other. My husband told me the river was a little hard for boating. At some places, he had to lie down to make the boat easier to pass the stone or swirl. It was hard for me to handle the boat. And we didn’t have enough time. So I gave up trying.

We were going to the Guadalupe Mountains.

Vivian was tired and took a nap. I replaced my husband as the driver. Along the I-10, we were going to west and saw more and more hills. The road crossed some hills and went higher. My ears could feel the altitude changes. I had to open and close my mouth again and again to make my ears feel better. We found some windmills on the hills. The trees became smaller and shorter, and their colors became lighter and yellowier. When we arrived at Van Horn, the view totally changed. No tall trees that I was familiar with, and no green grass. There were a lot of yellow-green bushes and shrubs. We stopped at a gas station and took a walk. Now it was 5 pm, but the sun was still high in the sky. It was shining and hot. I felt the air became dry and hot. The wind was like the fire flying around me.

After a short stop, we turned to north and went to the park. This was a good instate highway. It only had two lanes, but the condition was as good as I-10. Along the road, there were some ranches. But it was hard to find a moving thing: a car or person or an animal. Only our car went on the country road. This made me remember some Chinese Kong fu movies. We like knights walking alone.

There were some mountains at both side of the road; they had a big flat top--like cakes. They had many layers paralleling the ground. All of the mountains were yellow or white, with some bushes and shrubs. Each time, we guessed, “this is Guadalupe peak.” And after a while, we found another higher hill.

One and half hours later, a grand mountain stood in front of us. The other mountains looked like hills around it. A beautiful peak came toward us. A cliff at the peak’s south side and a high mountain went north from this peak. It was the Guadalupe Mountain.

We stopped many times to take pictures. The mountain changed its views. We went into the mountain and came to a valley. There were some woods in this valley. Afterwards we saw so many bushes and shrubs, we were so happy to see trees. Even we had never seen these kinds of trees before. After a turn, we found some camps in the trees. Laugh flied to us. We couldn’t see the road to those camps. They looked like living in a fairyland. We wondered how they could set up their camps in the trees.

After several turns, the camping ground was there-- at the end of the road. We found each campsite was in the trees and far away from others. We would live in the fairyland too. When the sun went down behind the mountain, the sky turned dark very quickly. After several minutes, the stars and the moon came out. I couldn’t believe that: the bright moon and the twinkle stars were all in the sky. The ground cooled down and the surrounding was quiet. Other people’s sounds were far away and soft.

I worried about the bears and snakes, so we went to the tent just after we cleaned up the campsite and ourselves. I fell in sleep very quickly.

I didn’t know how many hours I had slept. I was waked up by some strange feelings. I heard some big noises and felt that I am flying. When I opened my eyes, I saw the bright light through the window. I also saw our tent shaking and distorting. I heard the strong wind came toward us like an army. I felt that we were in a battle with our tent dancing. Even the bed seemed want to fly. Oh, the mountain used this way to say hello. But it had a big mouth and its breath was too strong. I hoped the sun would come soon, but my husband checked the watch:” now is the midnight.” “But why the outside is so bright?’” I ask. He told me: ”It is the moon. “ Oh, how long I had to wait! I hoped the wind would stop soon. Then I could continue to sleep. But I couldn’t speak the wind’s words. The wind didn’t listen to me. It became stronger and stronger.

It was a long night. I opened my eyes to wait the sunrise. The wind liked rocks come from the peak and shot at our tent, I worried that we would be thrown out of the campsite. We were the targets of the wind. The only one who still slept well was my daughter. I hoped I had a rough nerve as her. My husband and I tried to support the tent when the wind came. But the wind changed its directions and strength often. The nature was powerful and vivid. I didn’t know how long we fought with the wind. I was sleepy and tired.

Third day

June 6th

When I felt the wind became smaller, I heard the birds sing. I knew now it was 5 or 6 am. I couldn’t wait and went out of the tent. Wow, the sky was so blue and clear like a blue jade. The sunlight couldn’t reach the valley. The mountain was still in its shade. It was cool. But after we finished our breakfast, the sun showed. The temperature grew up quickly. Following the suggestion, we took a lot of water with us and began to hike. We chose the Devils Hall Canyon Train instead of climbing the peak because of Vivian. But this trail was still hard for us. There were only a few of trees along the trail. The sun was working as hard as us. We had to have a rest every few minutes.

When we walked through some earthy parts of the road, some bees flew around us. I tried to find their beehives, but I couldn’t see any on the trees. Soon, we found something interesting. In the earthy road, there were a lot of small holes. The holes were upright to the ground. Their edges were sharp and walls were smooth. The bees just flew into or out of those holes. I guessed the holes were the bees’ home.

There should be a river, but now, nothing except the big stones and flies. When we reached the canyon, we found the nature made a joke to us. The instructions said we could go along a river and walk in it. But if even we put in all the water we had, there wouldn’t be a mark immediately. The flies must have had a long time without visitor; they flew around us and tried to kiss us. We took several photos, and said bye to the flies. Vivian refused to walk. My husband and I became two horses to carry her. If you were there, you would see the miserable view.

When we came back to our car, we felt like 6 or 7 hours passed. But now it was only 11:50 am. In about 3 hours, we drank 10 bottles of water. But the strongest feeling was thirst. We asked a maintainer where was good for us, he suggested us to go to a ranch. He told us there were big trees and springs. Spring”S”? I couldn’t believe it. We drove to that ranch. Along the road, it was hard to find a tree, but suddenly, after a turn, some big trees stood in front of us. The trees were around a stable and a house and gave a lot of shade. Some horses were in the small stable. The house at the side of the stable was a small museum. We cooked and ate here with the smell of the horses.

We visited the museum. It was a home of the ranch owner. But because the over grazing, the nature balance had been broken, and the ranch didn’t have any cows or goats. The home became museum. But there still were the springs. Just near the house, there was a spring covered by a small hut. The water was small but it was a real spring. It was cool.

We had planned to spend a whole day there, but it was hard to follow this plan. It was too hot. So we went to the next target: Carlsbad cavern park.

Going northward about 15 miles, we passed the state border and came to New Mexico. When arrived the Whites City, we turned to west to a country road. The road went up to a hill. When we arrived a top of a hill, there were some buildings. “Here we are!” We went into an elevator, and it went down quickly. The director closed the lights in the elevator and opened the outside lights; we could see the stonewall went up fast. The number showed that we went down 650 feet in a minute. But we spent about 0.5 hour to drive up to the top of the hill.

The well-explored cave was the Big Room. It was really big. It was dark and cold and wet. We could hear the drops of the water. Sometimes, the water just dropped on our face. The most beautiful things that caught our eyes were the stalactites and the stalagmites. Their shapes and size were different. We had fun to find animals and characters here or there. In the Hall of Giants, there were 3 huge stalagmites like a party of giants. In the fairyland, there were a lot of stalagmites look like fairies in the heaven… we felt comfortable here. Our sweat went away. We could slow down and take a look carefully.

When we walked out the cave, the clock in the hall shows it was already 6 pm. But when we went back in our car, we found the time is 5. Somebody stole an hour from us. Yes, we were at New Mexico now, the time was changed here. It was funny.

We needed a bath and a good sleep. So we decided to go to Carlsbad city to find a hotel this night. After we checked in, we couldn’t move any more. It was still hot out side and we were tired. We slept from 7 to 7. It was a nice break. We had energy to go to another day.

Forth day

June 7th

Do you know what was our choice today? All of us three chose go to the cavern again. We rented an electronic director and went into the cavern through the natural entrance. At dawn, the bats would come out from the entrance like the smoke out off the hole. This was the answer of how people found the cavern: a shepherd found the big smoke came from the hill every dawn. He knew there would be a big cavern and the farmers wanted the excrement of the bats. They came to the cavern and found it was deeper and bigger than they thought. Many adventurers had come here to explore the cavern. None of them knew the directions except Whites. Whites was the only one who could remember the way to go in and come out. He named most of the caverns and their views. And the small town at the foot of the hill was named for him. When he was old, people worried that nobody could go into the cavern anymore; they applied the cavern for a national park and made roads in the cavern. Hands made all of the roads in this cavern. It is hard to put the machines in the cavern even now. People are still trying to explore the cavern and make more roads.

The road from the natural entrance was long and downward. We felt the change of losing light. Several turns later, it was totally black. No natural light any more. The lights in the cavern were the only resource for our eyes. Hollywood famous lighting engineer designed them. They were not so bright, just good enough for looking at the paths and the stones, but they showed the best views of the stalactites and the stalagmites.

We went through all the Big Rooms again and we still thought it was beautiful and amazing. Even the best designer couldn’t design better. Nature made the best things. The cavern doesn’t need air conditioners and it is cool in summer and warm in winter. There are several lives living in the dark world; they eat the dirt that our shoes bring in. some of the stalactites and the stalagmites are still growing.

We stayed in the cavern a whole day. Like walking in a fairytale, we almost forgot the season and the time. Vivian was so happy that she was singing and laughing. When we came out it, the sunlight shot us. We could believe today was so hot and dry.

We drove back to Guadalupe Mountain Park and camped here another night. Don’t ask me; yes, it was windy again. The wind was stronger than two days before. Like many lions and tigers howling together. Like in the sea with the hurricane. We put our cooler and water tank in the tent to make us feel better. But I was “flying” all night again.

In the morning, the winds had suddenly disappeared. It was a new day.

Fifth day

June 8th

We went to another trail in Guadalupe Mountains Park today. This trail was nearby a canyon. Again there wasn’t any water. We were the only visitors. It was quiet and hot, along the trail, there were some bushes and trees, such as agaves. Some of them were blooming. At the top of the branch, the big yellow flowers are amazing and beautiful. They are short. But when they are prepared to bloom, they grow out of a tall branch in one day. The branch can grow 13-15 feet per day. This way is perfect for agaves because they need about 20 years to bloom and only bloom once and they will die soon after blooming. The tall branch helps the flowers sent out their pollen far away.

This was a short trail. We finished it very quickly. We left the park and went toward the south. Yes, we went to the bigger and hotter place-the Big Bend National Park now. No car or person or animal I could be found, desert is desert. It was lonely.

We could feel the road went lower; we reached the south corner of Texas. When we drove in to the park, we found many strange stones and hills. The instructions said that many of the hills were volcanoes; the stones are the body of the lava. That is why the stones are so strange and have the different colors.

We camped at the Chisos Basin where there is an extinct volcano. The night was cool and quiet. We were in heaven: no wind any more. This night was the only night that we needed sleeping bags. But I still worried. I was worry about the bears and snakes. Because all of the information that I got told me there would be a lot of bears which would come out to the campground in the night. I always felt something just outside of our tent. I am not so natural.

Sixth day

June 9th

The first light woke us up. We wanted to stay here only one day. So we chose a one-day trail plan. Today was still hot. We set up as soon as we could, but just after 7 am, it became hotter and hotter. We drove on the way to the mountains. Along the road, we found a lot of out looks and expositions. We stopped at here or there to take a look.

There were a lot of volcanoes. Now they have calmed down. The strange stones and hills told the stories about a long time ago. Just around the camping site, the Chisos Mountains were spectacular. I liked the colors: green, red, white, black, yellow, and orange. It was amazing that the stones were so colorful and put so many colors together comfortably. My husband liked the shapes. Here the hill and stones at here are so beautiful: they liked many waves stood on the hills and ground, like mule ears, lions, and others. And the landscapes were big and grand. Vivian liked stay in the car. She didn’t like the ebullient sun.

We followed the instruction to the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive and felt the taste of the Chihuahua Desert. We found a plant with red pollen. The Indians put the poison pollen on the arrow. We found sotols and agaves again.

We came to the end of the road and Santa Elena canyon was just in front of us. It looked like a high wall with a gap. The Rio Grande is just going through the canyon. The mountain was yellow and at sunset, it would become red. It was awesome.

We drove to another road that went to the river views. Now it was really hot, the air was waving and nothing was here. When we reached the river area, it is dry and quiet. We had a simple lunch here; the vultures were walking around us. They maybe tried to find something to eat. When my husband and I put the cooler back into our car, the vultures went near to my daughter. I yelled and waved my arms. The vultures went a little farther. But they didn’t give up; they flew up but low and around us. We were the only targets for them. The river was gone and we had to leave there.

Now it was not good for outdoor walking. We took a last look and left the park. When we went on the road, somebody stopped us. They were the boarder patrols. But unfortunately, we didn’t take our passports with us. We had to call somebody to help us. Finally, we got our passports faxes and we could go. It was the biggest adventure for us. We almost couldn’t come back home.

When we went back on the road, it was 1 and half hours later. We had more than six hours to go! The sunset was coming. We watched our car’s shade became longer and longer in front of us. When we arrived a park near San Antonio that where we would stay, it was almost 11 pm. When we got into the park, we saw many green shining eyes. They are deer and rabbits. In the daytime, it would be hard to find them. We set up our tent under the moonlight.

Seventh day

June10th

Today was the only day that it was raining. It was the only day that we stayed in the city-San Antonio. We just went to the Mexican market and stayed for lunch, we were tired and we all wanted to go home.

What I want to say before I ended my story is the tips that we got during the trip:

You need to have your passports with you. Anywhere you go. *****

Get as much information as you can before the trip. ****

Take a little more than you need. ****

Don’t try to fight with the wind. ***

Don’t go to the desert in June. *****

Even in the hottest days, you need a long sleeved shirt to protect you from the sun. ****

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