Carlsbad Cavern National Park was worth every one of the extra
297 miles we drove south! We didn’t arrive until mid day and knew that wasn’t
the right time to dive in. The entrances to the caves close early afternoon to
give people time to complete the hikes and we knew that there were fairly
strict rules about leaving dogs in cars.
We planned to scope it out, check the kennels available at the Visitors
Center and get oriented with maps, etc. It
was also Halloween and there was a fairly large group of people who went down
in costume. It’s was a pretty good guess that it would have been loud and
spooky to join them!
Conceptually, it made sense to offer kennel service while
having a strict “No dogs left in cars” policy. We went to the well marked
kennel door. Dogs were barking. There was a sign that said “Knock and if no
answer, ring the bell. Please be patient as the attendant will be coming from
the Gift Shop.” We knocked, rang and waited until a door opened to the right of
the kennel. The attendant came out and
unlocked the kennel door from the outside. The kennel was a cinder block 10’ x
10’ room with a narrow hallway. Both were lined with cages but there were only
3 dogs in the main room. It was impossible not to focus on only one – a yellow
lab with eyes glazed over in a cage totally stressed having chewed the wire and
pushed out the end of the cage. The dog managed to grab a cardboard box and had
chewed that up as well. The attendant tried to push a partition midway into the
cage for unimaginable reasons because the dog took up the whole space. I was
horrified and asked how long the dog had been in there. He didn’t know but
looked at a tag and said since 9:30. It was noon! No water, no supervision, no
inside access that would have given someone a clue there had been a problem
going on for the last 2 ½ hours! Time to regroup on this one! We needed to find
a campsite and then sleep on this.
I had gotten a map from the BLM Field Office and planned to
find dispersed camping. There was a BLM property, Black River Recreation, about
10 miles south. I knew it was a wilderness area where camping wasn’t allowed
but it looked like there were areas on the perimeter that would be OK. We got
down there and found the roads were fenced off with barbed wire. We went into
the recreation area and found a fire ranger who was incredibly nice. He told us
to take our time in the recreation area and then he would lead us to a spot
that would be fine to camp. It must have been about 10 miles or so in on dirt
roads. It was a beautiful spot but we decided we weren’t really comfortable
there. The temperatures were in the 80s and it was wilderness so snakes become
more of a concern and it was also hunting season. There were spent shells on
the site and parked trucks that we had passed. Sometimes you have to go with
your gut feeling and move on. We had also decided that we wanted to go down
into the caves at 8:30 in the morning so we could leave Nina in the car and get
back before it got too hot. The kennel was not an option! All of this added up
to going back to a rundown RV park at the park entrance. Even Harry passed on
the showers which were military style; 4 shower heads in one room, no
partitions! LOL! Didn’t know he was so shy!
The caves were fabulous and definitely worth the effort. It
would have been fun if we had been there before the bats had migrated to Mexico.
Each night at twilight, they exit the cave in mass. My pictures don’t do the
caves justice. You really need a good camera and tripod.
Click here for photos
