Carlsbad Caverns, Kartchner Cavers, World of Concrete, The Wave

Saturday Jan, 31

                I was up early and waited an hour for the visitor center to open. I made some food and cleaned up the car. I signed up for a ranger lead tour through a part of the cave, but it didn’t start for a few hours. So I watched the video and took the elevator down to the main part of the cave. Here you can walk around place called the Big Room. This is a huge cavern 750 feet below the surface. You could fit 6 football fields inside this chamber, and it is roughly in the shape of a cross. I always love being the first one on a trail in the morning and the same applied here. I was down here with only 3 other people. It really gives you a good perspective when looking at these amazing features. The formations that happen inside a cave over millions of years are far beyond me to describe, and the pictures I take don’t do justice. I walked around the cave until the guided tour started. Now I walked through a different part of the cave with about 50 other people all shining flashlights and using “outside voices”. The information was really great from the ranger, but I could have done without the people. After the tour I hiked out the natural entrance back to my car. I drove south about an hour to an adjacent national park right across the Texas state line called Guadalupe Mountains Nat Park. I talked to the visitor center and quickly started the hike to Hells Staircase. You follow a wash up into the mountains for a few miles. Its started to rain but it wasn’t that bad so I continued hiking past hells staircase and followed the wash until it forked and I turned back. My plan was to stay the night here and hike around tomorrow. But I wanted to get on the road. So I drove southwest to Kartchner Caverns State Park AZ. Robert Yanasak and I were here last year but arrived too late to see the cave.

Sunday Feb, 1

                The sits above the surrounding landscape, almost on the edge of a bowl. It used to be a lake, today it was filled with fog and the morning was cloudy. I sat right in the gap between the fog and clouds. It made for a very cool sight when the sun snuck through for about 30 minutes. When the park opened I signed up for both tours. This cave system is completely different. It’s only a few feet below the surface and as untouched of a cave as you can find. The 2 guys who found this cave saw the bigger picture from day one. Everything they did was geared towards the conservation of this cave. They took the same trails every time and were extremely careful with their exploration. All the workers were super excited, they have received a lot of rain over the past few weeks and this is the wettest they have seen the cave. This is also a warm cave, unlike Carlsbad which is a constant 56 degrees Kartchner is in the upper 70’s with 100 percent humidity. No cameras are allowed through the cave but I will look up a picture of the main feature, Kubla Khan. After this cave I called my friend mike and drove up to phoenix to watch the Super Bowl at his place. Mike lives with his girlfriend Nichol, her son Landen, and mikes daughter Mel. Mike and I grilled up some chicken and washed it down with the other case of spotted cow I brought down. They also have a very nice garden and Nichol cooked some fresh veggies. 

Monday Feb, 2

                Mikes refrigerator broke over the night so the house was a bit chaotic in the morning. Mike and I went to rent a truck and pick up a new one. After we took care of that mike went to work and I made the drive through the dessert over to Vegas.

Tuesday Feb, 3

                This is the first day of the World of Concrete exhibit that I attended for work. I drove over to Treasure Island hotel but couldn’t check in. So I took the shuttle to the Las Vegas Convention Center and went to the first class I was signed up for. After that I roamed around for the rest of the day. This place is crazy to see. You can buy anything from a box of screws to concrete trucks to mining equipment.  After the show I went out to dinner and then hung out in the room.

Wednesday Feb, 4

                World of Concrete for the day

Thursday Feb, 5

                World of Concrete then checked out and drove to Kanab UT. 

Friday Feb, 6

                There is a hike I’ve been trying to do sense I started traveling called The Wave. They only allow 20 people to go a day, 10 are from an online lottery system and 10 are from the lottery held at the visitor center every morning. It being Friday they hold the lottery for 3 days. So 30 people were going to be chosen. Almost 70 people showed up. I was number 16, they called 14,15,17,and 18. I didn’t get chosen, but I decided to just go anyway. I looked up the gps coordinates and went for it. Turns out I hiked this same area before, but got stuck in a hole for almost an hour. Not this time! I did hike way off the normal route but I made it. It looks like the stone was swirling around in elliptical circles as it was hardening. There was a volunteer ranger standing here and he asked if I had I pass, I said of course. Then he started talking about all the great pictures he took. He showed me an area to hike around to see a few other features. I started off, there was a tall peak that overlooked everything around and I decided to try to climb up that. The view from the top looking down was spectacular. It gives the place a whole different feel. It took a little while to make it down then I started hiking to a neat spot I saw from the peak. It was getting too difficult to get to and I figured it would be good to get out of here before the ranger had time to look up my car. This time I followed the trail some of the way back, but I liked using my gps and just going off trail back to the parking area. I followed animal trails up and down little ravines. I had to drop down about 50 feet right at the parking lot, and sure enough the ranger is walking out exactly the same time I am. And he’s parked next to me. I didn’t say anything just hopped in, backed up, waved, and took off. I was torn between staying up here by Utah or going back down to mikes for the weekend. I could get to mikes by 9 pm, and that sounded pretty good to me. Mike and I went to a nearby bar for some whiskey and beers.

 Inside Carlsbad Caverns

 The Chandelier

 the Orchestra

 Hiking around Guadalupe Mountains National Park

 Hells Staircase

 Cool trees

Kubla Kahn column in Kartchner Caverns, not my picture

 Northern Coyote Buttes

 The Wave

 View from top of the peak

Last days in Florida, Big Bend Nat Park

Friday Jan, 23

                This morning I grabbed breakfast at a hotel then spent the day driving around the Everglades. At night I drove down to Key Largo to grab a drink with my friend Stefani.

Saturday Jan, 24

                Saturday I drove up to Orlando to meet up with my cousin Ben. He had to work until late so I pretty much just sat in the car watching shows on my computer. Around 10 I went to the restaurant Ben works at. The place is called Dexters, and he cooked me up a delicious grouper dinner. This really hit to spot, you can’t beat the fish down here. I haven’t seen Ben in years, so we grabbed some beers when he got off work. He took me to a few of his watering holes before going back to his place.

Sunday Jan, 25

                In the morning we walked around a really cool weekly market they have next to a lake. We walked around the city some more and grabbed some gyros. He also had to work today so I relaxed at his place watching Netflix. Later on we grabbed a beer, but I wasn’t feeling the best and became super tired. So soon made it back to his place.

Monday Jan, 26

                Monday I had to drive to Sarasota to do a blood test for life insurance, I should have taken care of it before I left but I didn’t want to deal with it. From here I drove through the Everglades back down to Key Largo for some kayaking through mangrove tunnels with Stefani. I wanted to get started on the drive west so I drove back up towards Tampa. I dropped off a case of spotted cow, a beer only in Wisconsin, for my cousin’s fiancée’s brother.

Tuesday Jan, 27

                Here’s where it gets boring, I drove west

Wednesday Jan, 28

                I drove west

Thursday Jan, 29

                I drove west, and made it Big Bend National Park. This is an amazing national park with a ton to offer. It’s right on the border of Mexico along the Rio Grande. It’s the only national park with an entire mountain range inside it, the Chisos Mountains. At the bottom it’s a dessert, at the top it’s a pine forest. The top gets twice as much rain as the dessert below. I did a ranger guided hike where he was really knowledgeable and explained a ton about the park and surrounding land. After the hike he talked to me about going into Mexico, there is a border station in the park and you can go to a small village across the river. I planned on doing that tomorrow. After the days in the car I needed to clean up, so I went over to the hot spring. It’s actually an old building that fell apart and the hot spring flooded the foundation. It sits right in the Rio Grande River and the temptation was too strong. I swam across the river just to be an illegal immigrant for a minute. 

Friday Jan, 30

                I was up early with a lot of things planned to do. First I drove the scenic drive to the west end of the park. Here is one of the main reasons this place became a park, the Santa Elena canyon. If I planned it out better I would have kayaked through the canyon, but instead I did the short hike. It’s a huge, 1000 foot wall that is split by the Rio Grande River flowing through. The size is hard to take it all at once. The next place I hiked was around a few old houses of the farmers lived in before it was a park. From here I did another hike to a spring, more like a pool of bad water. But I was able to follow the wash up into the mountains for a ways. Finally I drove to east side to the park for the border crossing. You pay $5 for a boat ride across the river then walk a quarter mile to the town. It’s somewhat sad to see, the place is dirt poor. A resident offered to be my guide and I accepted. Little kids run up to you asking you to buy their little trinkets. We walked around the town then stopped in the bar. I figured I'm in Mexico, I should have tequila. They also had a tequila type drink made from a different plant called sotol. We grabbed an overpriced lunch then I check out the store. Nothing I really wanted, but I did buy some vanilla. I wish I had another day to spend in the park, but I had to be in Vegas for a work convention on the 2^nd. So I started north. Leaving the park there is a border patrol station. And sure enough the dog barked. So I pulled aside and they had to search everything. Right before they started taking everything out one of them says to me “if there is anything in the car you have to tell me now, if you don’t and I find something it’s a federal issue.” All I said back “and if you don’t find anything, you owe me a beer.” He never did pay up on that beer, but I was just happy to be done with that. I drove up to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

 Some rare bird the ranger told me about

 Big ass millipede

 Big Bend National Park

 Hot spring and the Rio Grande River

 Santa Elena Canyon

 Mule Ears

 Part of the hike to the spring

 Mexican village

Everglade Nat Park, Sanibel Island, Big Cypress Swamp

Sunday Jan, 18

                I drove straight into the everglades, on the way in a guy was pulled over with his hazards on. There is no cell reception so I pulled over and gave him a jump. His alternator was bad so It wasn’t going well, not to mention his car was also overheating. I told him I would follow him back to the ranger station to use the phone. He made it about half way back before his car over heated again. I jumped him but he decided to just let it sit for an hour before driving. It was a young couple and the girlfriend had the look that this was not the first time. I was still really early for the guided tour so I did a little fishing while I waited, nothing. The tour was lead by a ranger and there were 5 canoes and another kayak. It seemed like 2 of the canoe groups have never seen water before and were horrible. But we finally got moving. The ranger took us through the mangrove tunnels and explained a lot of what was going on ecologically. It was a good ride but I could tell the ranger was new to this area, not the most helpful on some points. At the end of the tour there is a pond where a crocodile usually hangs out. This time he was completely out of the water sitting on the bank. When the tour was over I asked if there was a hike I could do before the packer game. He looked at my car and said “you were serious, you really do have a snowboard.” Then he sent me on Rowdy Bend Trail. He told me it was a 2.6 mile hike. It was actual 2.6 mile to a connecting trail that ended at the gulf .6 miles away. So it turned out to be a 6.4 mile hike, with the worst mosquitoes I have ever experienced. Some cool vegetation grew here in the wooded areas, but it was hard to enjoy as I was under constant assault. When I made it back to the safety of my vehicle I drove to Florida City to watch the game. So many individual things could have gone our way at the end of that game, it was sad to watch. But, as people keep saying, at least we are not the bears. 

Monday Jan, 19

                I’m not sure how it happened but I slept 13 hours. Then I drove back to flamingo and finally found where they have been hiding the showers! It was a cold shower but it was much needed. I spent some time kayaking around Florida Bay, but open water kayaking really isn’t my thing. I also tried fishing, see that fish were jumping all around me. I even saw a shark make a kill. But right on par I got nothing. I wanted to talk to the ranger about a longer kayaking trip but I ended up talking to the same ranger as the day before. He really didn’t know anything about the area. I made some food and spent the rest of the day light kayaking through an area called Hell’s Bay. This was really cool, all mangrove tunnels. From there I went back into Florida City and made some plans for the following day.

Tuesday Jan, 20

                Tuesday morning I drove over to the ocean side of Florida and went to Biscayne National Park. But the main attraction to this park is 9 miles off the coast. It protects the keys further north then key Largo. If I looked into it more I might have made a trip out there but I was not ready for all that. So I paddled along the coast line over to a dam. A bunch of manatees would gather right up against the dam. I also saw old man kayak fishing and talked to him for awhile. He was catching a bunch of needle fish. Then I paddles around a few islands nearby. The whole area is really shallow, only about 8 feet deep between the shore and the keys. From here I drove over to Sanibel Island. This place is known as one of the best places in the world to find sea shells. I arrived just in time to see a great sun set over the gulf. 

Wednesday Jan, 21

                I slept behind a grocery store and apparently that was not ok with the cops who woke me up at 4 am. But they were cool and told me where I could go. I planned of being up at sun rise so I only slept a little while longer and headed to the beach. I walked around and found some good stuff. Then I thought I would have better luck snorkeling, but the visibility was crap. And all the shell still in the ocean had crabs taking up residents. From here I headed down to Everglade City for some info, I planned a smaller trip around the 10,000 islands area, but I also wanted to get information about the Big Cypress Swamp. This place sounded really cool! I looked into going to the oldest part of the swamp but that was a full day of hiking. So some more kayaking it was. I went up and down Turner River for a ways. There were alligators just about everywhere you would look. I saw 3 small ones sort of in the same space. Then in the bushes I saw a monster! I’m guessing it was the mom and she looked about 10-11 feet long. I paddled closer and eventually, like most females I spooked her. But they don’t run away, they run for cover. Which is the heavily weeded spot of the river my boat was currently occupying. She came charging in the water and was only a few feet away from me but in a second she was gone and the water was creepy still. I slowly paddled away. Further down the river it turns into a super tightly packed mangrove tunnels. It’s really cool when the grove is completely surrounding you. The sun was starting to go do so I headed back to Everglade City hopping to find a shower, no luck. 

Thursday Jan, 22

                I drove right over to start my hike. The trailhead is also at another visitor center. I stopped in to see what the trail conditions were like. I ended up talking to a ranger who did the trail a week ago. He did the whole trail, 8 miles in 8 hours. I looked at him sideways and he went on. The whole trail is super sticky mud, that’s why it took him so long. And he was right, for the first ½ mile. The water levels must have risen just a bit, now the rest of the trail was 6-18 inches of water. The first section of the trail is some good size trees, and then it cuts off to very small trees. Each part is clearly defined; everything is separated by the logging that went on. All of this was cool to see and already an interesting hike. But getting to the old growth forest is like opening the door to Jurassic park. Huge trees, huge ferns, huge vines. The land was never bulldozed also, so you get some small pockets of raised up land surrounded by water. The ferns grew as tall as me in some places. The trees have these very skinny vines hanging down further then you could follow them back up, as thin as a spaghetti noodle. Growing in all the water was what looked like the plants every kid would put in their fish tank. Longer stalk with lots of small vivid green spade shaped leaves all around. For as hard as it was getting to this place, it was extremely worth it! Walking through water feels like sand bags are tied to your feet. And I was already feelin the pain. I hiked back and had to wash my socks and shoes in the bathroom sink, with lots of weird looks. I planned on doing some kayaking through the 10,000 islands area, but this hike took awhile. So I drove back down to Florida city and found a hot tub to soak in. I also used the bathroom to shave and all that, when the security guard walked in. he gave me a look, took a leak, and then asked “do you have a room here?” all I could say was “ya, I don’t want to get my bathroom dirty.” His answer was “I hearrrrd that!!” he chuckled and walked out.

 Ranger guided tour

 Marsh land

 Salt water crocodile

 Hiking around the park

 Kayaking around Florida Bay

 Some birds in Biscayne

 Sunset at Sanibel Island

 Big gator

 Lots of 4-5 foot gators all over

 Mangrove tunnel

 Hiking through water in Big Cypress Swamp

 Old growth area of the swamp

Black and white photography is a big thing here