Sunday, April 5, 2009

SPS:The prehoneymoon parks




I still have one hour to post for SPS, I decided to post a photo from each of the national parks/monuments we traveled to directly before the wedding.

We left Texas early in the morning, because I woke up at 2 am ready to roll on out. So we got to the campground in Carlsbad New Mexico early in the afternoon. After 5th wheel set up and some food we decided to go to Guadalupe Mts NP. We did a couple short trails then headed back home. The next morning we were up early and were part of the rush to be first to go down into Carlsbad Caverns NP. We choose to go in the natural entrance which drops 740 feet in a mile and a quarter. Then we hiked around the big room, and used the elevators to head up to the
visitors center.

We made it to camp before noon, packed up in record time and drove to our next stop in Alamogordo NM. We spent two nights in a wonderful campground just outside town. We made it in time to hit White Sands NM for sunset. Then we got up early and made it there the next morning just after sunrise. I must say, it is an amazing park.

The next day, still being sore from Carlsbad, we decided to do a smaller scenic loop of the area near Alamogordo. North of town we stopped for Three Rivers Petroglyph area. We made it to the top of the ridge line and enjoyed many amazing petroglyphs along the way. This was an unplanned part of the trip, and it was a tiny little area, a jewel few people know about. We found it by the red dot on my atlas! There were no visitor brochures to be had! We also stopped by Valley of Fires State Park. (no photo)

The new morning we packed up and headed to Albuquerque NM for the last campground. The next morning, off to Petroglyph NM. Three days before the wedding, we were hiking to the top of a mesa to find some very cool petroglyphs. It was the last stop on our short but exciting trip back to Colorado Springs.


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