South Eastern New Mexico is stark and barren.  This is desert flat country with large stretches of varying hues of beige punctuated with small shades of green from junipers, desert palms, prickly pear cactus and brown mountains in the distance.  In one of these mountains is Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

The National Park, one of the earliest, is remote but once inside it is every bit worthy of its designation and the trek.  The National Park Service has out done itself with a fantastic 2.4 mile trail and just the right amount of lighting to accentuate the features.  This place is of such uncommon grandeur and so other worldly that its description is defies my vocabulary.  On at least two occasions I turned a corner and literally lost my breath, something that has never happened before.  I have been in other caverns, so the subterranean world was not completely new, but this was an overwhelming visual overload.

Hall of Giants – Carlsbad Caverns National Park

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