Thursday, December 2, 2010 - Day Two at Carlsbad Caverns

Set the alarm to get up early, because the first guided tour was at 10:00. We arrived just after 9:30, signed up for the tour and headed down the meet the group. Our guide as Ranger Andrea, and she set off at a pace that had most of us (we were a mostly older crowd) breathing heavily, with one poor woman practically having a heart attack before we stopped to look at a dead bat. After that we went much slower, going through the three rooms that make up the tour. At one point they turned the lights out just to let us experience total blackness, then we moved on from there. Hubby and I remembered that we had been through this room before, when it didn't require a guide, but they apparently instigated guided tours during the 90's to "protect" the cavern from those rare few would desecrate them. If we had simply walked it, even at our slow pace, we would have been through in no more than 30 minutes, but because it was a tour, we had to comply with their schedule, listening to mostly propaganda with very little substance or information. Anyway, after 90 minutes we were done. We stopped in the lower snack area for a cup of coffee and a small tub of salad (macaroni for me, potato for Hubby), and decided since it was still so early, we would take the Natural Entrance trail again. We originally thought we'd start at the bottom and work up as far as we could, but quickly realized that was a fool's errand, so we walked from the visitors center to the entrance and headed down. The change between last time we were here and now was incredible, and not for the good. When we went down in 1988, there were paths that were well marked and easy to follow, but had a natural surface that allowed you to get a feel for what the early explorers experienced. Granted, it wasn't as crude as being lowered in a guano bucket or climbing down a ladder as early visitors had to, you could still feel connected to the wonder they must have felt as they descended. Not so anymore. Now there's a paved path, they've built stone walls along both sides and completely reconfigured the opening, adding amphitheater seating at the opening, and there's a HANDRAIL on the trail! It was like walking in a Disney World queue (albeit a steep one), but it was no more interesting than that.
There was no sense of wonder or awe or respect for the early visitors, because it was just too "safe" to make any connection whatsoever. Really disappointing, and shocking to know that our National Park Service, which is supposed to preserve these sites for future generations, in fact ruined it for them. They should be ashamed of themselves that they made it so commercial and unnatural (quite ironic considering it's the "Natural Entrance"). I supposed if you've never been it would be okay, but compared to our memories, it was an awful disappointment. Finished off the museum, bought a few items in the gift store and headed back to the Arena, glad we could check the Big Room off our bucket list, doubtful we'll ever come back again because of the destruction they've inflicted here.