Guadalupe Caverns

Where the sun set on this photo is the Guadalupe Mountain, where traditional Catholics see the outline of the virgin. The Guadalupes are a National Park that is rich in springs and diversity but is often overlooked. We had deep winter chill for our explorations and did a few short forays. The best was into the "Smith" spring, guarded by an ancient maple. This was a favorite encampment for (Mescalero/Nje) Apache until the white settlers and the military drove the people from their lands. Then it became grazing land for livestock. We saw javelina, deer and a family of bluebirds.
The Guadalupe Ridge line extends from Texas into New Mexico. It is called the "Permian Reef," a marine fossil reef formed at least 260 million years ago and extending 400 miles in a horseshoe shape.
In this complex there is oil and gas and the fantastic miles of caves around Carlsbad Caverns. We went in what is called "the natural entrance" shown here--
and wandered down on switch backs to about 800 feet to an unending series of marvellous grottoes and big rooms and vaulted domes and stalactites, stalagmites, curtains, popcorn, domes, crystalline and pools...
Really, if you can get to the Carlsbad Caverns once in your life, you should. It is incredible beyond my ability to describe it.
Beyond the caverns, New Mexico is under assault from Halliburton and all those who wish to develope energy resources for a profit. Oil. Gas. Nuclear. Coal. Here, at the Artesia Public Library I'm surrounded by the bad news after seeing it with our own eyes driving here. I'd recommend checking out Voices from the Earth, the newletter from the Southwest Research and Information Center www.sric.org