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.
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