Thursday, April 25, 2013

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico

Lamb Branch Library, Pueblo, CO

 


    Since I'm a skinflint, I opted to take a 1.5-hour, 1-mile self-guided tour of part of "The Big Room." The people you see in the center of the photo are those near where the two elevators deposit one after a quick descent.

 

 

 


     Stalagtites and stalactites galore! As we learned in school the former grew from the ground up whereas the latter developed from the ceiling downward.

 

 

 

 


    The park service has distributed lights throughout the Caverns in order either to to highlight a limestone formation or to backlight it.

 

 

 

 

 


    Plenty of light in this shot even though parts of the formations are black.

 

 

 

 

 


    Sometimes the formations from the ceiling are called draperies; if they're long and thin, they're called "Soda Straws."

 

 

 

 

 


    No bats here; they're in another part of the cave near its natural entrance.

 

 

 

 

 

    One of the more spectacular groups of limestone formations. Believe the stalagmite on the right is called the "Giant Dome" and the two formations on the left are called "Twin Domes."

 

 

 

 

    Though these small formations look like ice crystals, they're not; believe the temperature in the caverns remains at a fairly constant 56 degrees throughout the year. [Think they're called "popcorn." Not so; Popcorn hangs from "Soda Straws."]

 

 

 

 

    What looks like snow is really limestone -- a "Flowstone."

 

 

 

 

 

 

    If you have an imagination, these two formations look like a grandfather talking with his grandson.

 

 

 

 


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