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Today was a see things day, and that is what I did, but man, it turned into a LOOOOONG day. But it was all good. I was out of the Hotel and on the road by 8am. My goal, get to Carlsbad Caverns right when they opened, or close to it. So it was up 285 and the across 652. Along 652, the road started to get interesting, some nice elevation changes and some curves! Off in the distance, thing were looking up too, I could also see mountains! When I got to 180 I had originally thought of going down to Guadalupe Peak, then doubleing back, but I decided to push on. Befor too long I found myself at Carlsbad Caverns!
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I'm going to warn you, I took a lot of pictures, and some of them prebably aren't that good! Anyway, I opted for the self guided tour walking down the natural entrance. Here are the original buildings. Let me just say this, the caverns were awesome. I spent a good 3-4 hours down there, really really cool. I wish I could have hung out for the flight of that bats, that must be something. But just the swarms of the Cave Swallows at the entrance was impressive. Now, here are the pictures:
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AS I was leaving, I saw a sign for a 9.5 mile scenic route. Sure it was dirt, but how could I not? Besides, I didn't want Holbrook to give me any crap! Hey look, me! Just to prove I am really where I say I am!! The views were nice, but there was more than one time I was asking myself what the hell I was doing out there on a fully loaded XX. Almost lost the front end several times!
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Once I gassed up at the park exit, I made for Sitting Bull Falls. Up 285 to 137, then follow the road to the falls. A very tight, twisty road, I might add! The falls were very cool, formed by a spring at the top of the mountain. Here is another shot from a different angle. It was in the 100's, so I took the opportunity to cool down at the base off the falls. I then hiked to the top to the start of the falls. And a look down from the top.
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I had been told I should ride to the end of 137 to Dog Canyon, as there was a nice view, so I did. As I was blasting along I came to a cow, just standing in the middle of the road. She showly made her way off as I approached, but clearly she was put out. The road was very nice and twisty and ended at a national Forest, but it was a 4 mile hike to the top. Um, no. A nice quite place to camp, but I needed to move on. I backtracked on 137 and continued north on 285. Then in Artisia I filled up and headed west on 82. Several triple digit blasts later, and one dodging a desert thunderstorm, I found myself in Cloudcroft. As i climbed the mountain i could feel the temps dropping. At the top, I found a nice campsite, got dinner, wrote this, and went to bed. Long day!
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| Ending mileage: | 72257 |
| Starting mileage: | 71836 |
| Miles for day: | 421 |
| Total: | 4043 |