Davis Mountains and Carlsbad, NM-Out of the way, but worth it!

Davis Mountain State Park

February 27, 2015 to March 2, 2015

This State Park in Southwest Texas is about 35 miles off the Interstate.  The draw is solitude, Fort Davis, the Indian Lodge and McDonald Observatory.  The park has no cell service making connecting to the outside world a challenge.  Not a bad thing!  You can walk up to the main road and get a couple of bars if you need to make a call.  Providing full hook ups this park seems like a bargain at $25.00 per night.  Unfortunately they also charge $5.00 per person per day park pass, bringing the cost to $35.00, still not too bad.  Javelinas roam free through the park, so make sure your little pups are with you always.

We made this stop to visit McDonald Observatory.  The Observatory is located high atop a mountain with good roads leading up to the visitors center.  They offer two tours daily of the 107 inch Harlan J Smith and the 30 foot Hobby-Eberly telescopes used for scientific research.  The time is allocated to astronomers and post grad students.  The Observatory is part of the University of Texas 450 miles away.  We signed up for the day tour and solar observation, the twilight party, and the star party.  The solar observation allows you to see the sun spots and solar eruptions “live” using the telescopes with the proper filters.  These are smaller telescopes set up around the facility and linked in to the auditorium.  The large HJS telescope was installed in the 1930’s and has been periodically updated through the years,  The floor rises and falls to allow access to the telescope.  The dome rotates depending on which direction the telescope should be pointed.  No longer do astronomers sit with their eyes glued to the eye pieces on these big telescopes.  They are hooked up to remote computers and controlled remotely,  The H-E telescope is one of the largest optical telescopes in the world.  This telescope is not in a “tube” but is a series of angles & mirrors.  This telescope can access 70-81% of the sky and a single target can be tracked for up to two hours.  These telescopes are at about 6,790 feet on Mt. Fowls and Mt. Locke.  If you listen to NPR chances are you have heard Star Date, a daily radio program produced by this observatory.  

For the Twilight program we listened to a lecture about the moon and its craters and various “seas”.  The “seas” are flatter spots which NASA used as landing sites for our visits to the moon.  The Apollo astronauts left behind mirrors that the observatory uses to continue to measure the distance to the moon.  We are learning that it is moving farther away.  We learned about the Tycho crater located at the southern pole, a deep, wide crater with a rise in the middle.  The lighter streaks extending out show the huge impact the meteor created on the surface.  Later, at the Star Party we observed the moon in low and high resolution.  Amazing indeed.

For the Star Party they had 6 telescopes available for viewing various night sky objects.  We observed the moon, Jupiter with it’s gases and 3 visible moons, Canis Major constellation, Cassiopeia and my favorite-the Orion Nebula.  The Orion Nebula is in the Orion Constellation and is a birthing place for new stars.  This nebula has been photographed by the Hubble and is one of it’s most viewed images.  Through the telescope you could see the gases and a ton of stars.  I enjoyed every second of our time there and certainly recommend it to anyone traveling through Southern Texas.  The cost for a full day for 2 was $50.00 for all the events.  There is a lunch counter and of course a gift shop.

Located in the State Park is the Indian Lodge.  The Indian Lodge was built in this remote area in the 1930’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.  The lodge was built using handmade adobe blocks, river cane and local pine.  The site was selected as a get away destination for Gulf Coast residents due to the mild climate and remote location.  Movie producers, oilmen, railroaders and ranchers used the lodge as a retreat.  Today there is a restaurant that looked like it provided standard fare.  The site is very picturesque with the dark rock and sandy hills.  

Fort Davis is the highest town in Texas at 5,050 feet.  The climate is supposed to comfortable year round, but we came in with a cold snap.  The trees were coated in ice and I took many photos along the ride.  The little town is known for it’s Fort Davis National Historic Site.  The is a restored frontier military fort.  We made a quick stop there as there is not much left of the original fort and lunch was calling.

We stepped into the past at Fort Davis Drugstore.  This cute establishment had a old fashioned soda counter that served up delicious home cooked food.  I had the best chicken fingers ever with country gravy as a dipping sauce.  Oh my!  Topped off with cinnamon ice cream for dessert and I was a happy girl.  Eric opted for the chef’s salad, making me look bad, but he went for two scoops of dessert.  It was a cute little place and if you are there, you must stop in.  They have old fashioned candy and gift shop items for sale also.  The used book store along Main Street is a big one, well laid out with lots of selection.  Other than that, there is not much there.  They have a 1&1/2 mile walking tour through the heart of the town which shows how small the town is.  A great get away from it all for sure.  

The short Skyline Drive at Davis Mountain State Park offered views that went for miles.  It didn’t take long and was a nice afternoon ride.  We certainly felt like we were back in the desert again for the first time in a couple of years.  It seemed like the landscape changed slowly then poof! here was the desert.  The interesting thing is I realized that I had missed the desert a little and the vast nothingness so you can see forever.  From this point on it is mainly desert until we get back to the Oregon Coast.

Mowgli sniffing where a Javelin had been.  He saw one the first night and immediately stopped in his tracks

Carlsbad, NM

March 2, 2015 to March 4, 2015

After this brief cold stop in Texas we headed North thru Pecos, TX to Carlsbad, NM.  From Pecos to Carlsbad the road was full of oil/gas trucks and unfortunately trash and exploded tires.  I don’t think Texas Dept. of Transportation does any maintenance or clean up along this route.  For miles all you could see was oil/gas pumps and fires for the exhaust.  Disappointing that we treat our land so carelessly.  I don’t mind the exploration and mining of the industry; it's the lack of stewardship for the surrounding land.  Going thru Pecos it felt like a third world country.  

Once we got into Carlsbad you could see the economic effect of the industry on the town.  Hotels and trailer parks are popping up.  The campground we stayed at, Carlsbad RV Park, looked like an old KOA and had mostly workers or permanent residents.  The transients were placed together in the very last row and there was only a few sites there.  It was dirt and our site was too short for the Beast and the Toad.  But it was quiet and only 16 miles from our purpose of being there, Carlsbad Caverns.

I had always seen pictures of Carlsbad but didn’t know anyone who went there.  It is really a tough place to get to as it is tucked away from any interstate or major highway.  It was however worth the extra effort to get there.  This time of year the caverns were almost deserted and you had some of the rooms to yourself.  We  opted for the $8.00 Kings Palace guided by a Ranger.  Our ranger was knowledgeable about the caverns, the area and the history.  He has only been there 5 months and has done his homework.  The caverns have so many different formations.  We have seen them in various caves, but not all in one.  The air was nice and cool (warmer then outside!) and soon we were shucking our jackets and hats.  It is quite the hike through even with the elevator.  After our tour, we wandered around the big room, about the size of 6 football fields.  The entire trail around is 1.25 miles.  We worked up our appetite and headed for lunch at the cafeteria.  Surprisingly the chicken/chili tacos were awesome.  I didn’t expect much from such an isolated place.  After lunch we decided to hike down the Natural Entrance. This is very steep descending 800 feet in one mile into the giant hole of the cave.  I didn’t like some parts as I felt as if I was walking off into space.  It was worth another look in the cave as I don’t think we’ll be back along this way again.

looking up into the roof

this formation is called Bashful Elephant

A Cave Selfie

Barbary Sheep along the road.  This herd numbered about fifty

The opening of the cave just past the entrance on the way down

going into the Natural Entrance

The next day sent us back south into Texas along 180 through Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  The weather was drizzly and cold.  The Guadalupe Peak is the highest point in Texas at 8,749 feet.  We drove along and the scenery changed again as we dropped into the valley north of El Paso.  We started to see little houses and ranches along the way as skirted El Paso and went through Fort Bliss to Las Cruces, NM.  More about that next!