Page, Arizona– January 11th, 2021
We crossed the Utah border with plans to head straight to the Grand Canyon. All three of us wanted to cut the drive short. We’d been driving a lot lately so we decided to stop in Northern Arizona. When we arrived in Page we realized the town wasn’t only a stopover, but a vacation destination for people who lived in the surrounding areas. We settled into the Page/Lake Powell Campground after making a reservation on the spot, then immediately drove to Horseshoe Bend to catch the sunset.
Horseshoe Bend is a must-see when visiting or driving through Page. It’s massive size and grand canyon-like appeal make it a sunset hotspot for photographers, newly married couples and nomads like us. It cost us $10 to enter, because it’s funded by the state rather than the National Park Service. We walked a mile and a half down a paved trail to reach the national monument. It’s wheelchair accessible and provides a paved overlook area for those who cannot climb the rough terrain. Those on the more adventurous side and the couples exchanging their vows were standing, walking and hanging their feet over the edge of the cliffs. I was terrified from the moment we arrived at the bend. I watched a woman step to the edge of a cliff that overlooked it and had immediate flashbacks from hiking angel’s landing just one day before. I decided I needed to step away, so I walked inland and sat on a rock. Berk kept me company while Mike explored the spontaneity of the edge and photographed the last bursts of sunlight. Since we’re constantly in a state of awe and have the ability to travel and breathe in the air of new places, I think it allows us to put less pressure on ourselves. I didn’t want to force myself to go close to the edge, but I also had the privilege to choose that, knowing there would be other edges and sunsets later in our journey. I think when we vacation or take a breath for a few days or even a week out of the year, we all seem to pack in the excitement knowing our time will soon come to a close, but in this season we’ve truly been able to live in the here and now and accept each day for what it is.
We decided to spend one additional day in Page before heading to the Grand Canyon, knowing we had some time to spare after reviewing our loose itinerary. As we drove into town I counted nine churches on the same street and there seemed to be another one everywhere we turned. We headed to a coffee shop in an attempt to use their WIFI, only to find that all coffee shops and what looked like every restaurant was closed due to the effects of the pandemic. It was depressing to say the least. We drove back to the campsite, took Berk for a jaunt then headed out to bike the Page Rim Trail. The trail was epic but challenging, especially for me. Mike’s getting really good at riding and wants to go faster and harder every time. Sometimes I can’t keep up, but it’s still nice that we can go together. He ended up riding 10 miles, while I rode about 6. At least I know I can beat him in a foot race. Apart from the Page Rim Trail and Horseshoe Bend, many people visit Page to explore the Antelope Canyon. Unfortunately while we were visiting, the site was closed because it’s owned by the Navajo Nation and they enforce separate laws than our government.
Back at the Page Campground, there are wagons that guests could rent for $125 a night. The wagons sleep four people, have running water and a picnic table area. We peaked in and checked them out, but weren’t willing to give up a night in the Dutchmen, especially for the additional cost. Mike and I started watching Bridgerton and immediately became obsessed. Movie night with the three of us can be tight and our butts usually hurt by the end, because the cushion is so worn out from the previous owners, but the popcorn and cozy vibes made it all worthwhile.
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona– January 13th, 2021
We woke up, packed up and headed out later than planned, which was nothing out of the ordinary for us. We drove 3.5 hours from Page to the Grand Canyon, while Mike kept saying “The Graham Canyon”, the whole way there. He had to explain the “Graham Canyon” Rugrats episode to me because my parents didn’t let me watch it. Apparently Tommy thinks the canyon is made of graham crackers and Angelica makes fun of him for it.
We ate our peanut butter and banana sandwiches then hiked four miles around the rim trail. The beginning of our hike felt touristy- there were people everywhere, until we got far enough from the entrance. For the last half hour we watched the canyon glow orange in the sunset. It was incredible and made us feel smaller than we are. We felt like we were selling ourselves short by spending only one day at the Grand Canyon. We wanted to hike down into the Canyon and see it’s beauty from every angle, but we knew it was the right decision for us to leave that evening. We wanted to avoid the cold, so we wouldn’t have to put the skirt around the camper again. Even if we did stay and decided to skirt the camper, there’s still a chance our pipes could have frozen with the temperatures Northwest Arizona was expecting- so we decided not to risk it. We stopped at McDonald’s and realized that chicken nuggets from the Grand Canyon are three times as expensive as normal, but satisfying just the same. I always feel sick after eating McDonalds, but it’s so tasty while you eat it. Anyways, It’s rare for us to ever drive at night, but given our situation with the weather we didn’t have a choice.
Sedona, Arizona– January 14th, 2021
We arrived in Sedona’s Coconino National Forest around 10pm, just in time for every other boon docker to settle into their chosen spot for the night. We followed the dirt road a couple miles, passing dozens of campers, vans and tents occupying almost every pull off. The road was rough and was littered with potholes. We eventually found a spot we could back into and settled in for the night after Mike leveled us out while enduring the freezing cold. The things we do for free camping.
I woke up in a panic at 7am- someone was knocking on our camper door. Mike shot up out of the bed, opened the door and yelled out the crack, “Can I help you?” Nobody knocks on a camper, or at least we haven’t experienced it. A young couple stood about 20 feet from our front door and asked if we could help pull a girls car out of the ditch up the road. They noticed our truck and our bikes and later told us that was their indicator to thinking we were young and able to tow with our truck. Mike quickly agreed to help, but told them he’d need to get dressed and put his contacts in first. I stayed in bed with Berk and held down the fort. Mike returned a half hour later and filled me in on the situation. He won the good Samaritan award for the day.
I went for a run, knowing I didn’t really have a choice- when the sun comes out I can’t help but find the nearest hill to sprint up. An hour later we decided it was time for a hike in nearby, Red Rock State Park. We paid $10 to explore the park for the day. We made our first mountain house lunches over a tiny fire along Oak Creek. There was nobody else on the trail where we were having lunch, then all of a sudden Kayla Blindert, the girl Mike pulled out of the ditch that morning, walked up to us and immediately started laughing. She was hoping she would never have to see us again. We instantly became friends, exchanged numbers and invited her over for dinner. She was traveling alone and living in her car that she purchased only 24 hours before it made its way into the ditch. Kayla pulled in alongside the Dutchmen right before sunset. She brought firewood and beer as a thank you to Mike for his help that morning. Veronica and Scott, the young couple that approached us at the crack of dawn also joined our cook-out. We supplied burgers, while Veronica and Scott came with alcohol and toilet paper they were trying to pawn off on us before they got on their flight to Wisconsin the next morning. Kayla introduced us to green ketchup- not the cheap Nickelodeon kind you ate as a kid, but real ketchup made from green tomatoes. Soon we’d learn that everything Kayla consumed and shared with us, she actually made herself. Not prepared, but actually made from scratch, including the English muffins we would eat the following morning. We made a bon-fire, laughed and exchanged stories until midnight. Before we left on our trip I pictured every night to be like this one and was thankful for how everything played out.
Berk and I were up early the next morning exploring the forest behind our campsite. It was a wide open space and a great place for him to run. The mornings are always more peaceful when we were dry camping. I would choose it over camping with hook-ups any day, if it weren’t for all the required maintenance. Hot air balloons appeared over the hillside as Berk and I ran up the trail. The view was stunning and took me back to my eighteenth birthday when Michael surprised me with a hot-air balloon ride over the changing leaves of Upstate New York. Although we did not go in Sedona, a sunrise excursion seems like an incredible way to spend a morning there. We invited our new friends over for coffee. Kayla made homemade egg English muffin sandwiches for all of us and we spent a couple more hours together before Veronica and Scott had to head to the airport. The high temperature was 70 degrees, so we headed to a nearby secret hiking spot called “The Birthing Cave.”
The Birthing Cave is a sacred spot in Sedona, Arizona where some people believe the cave offers healing power. Supposedly the Hopi people of the Red Rock region sent pregnant women to the birthing cave on Mezcal Mountain to give birth. The women would hike up to the cave right before going into labor and sit and pray until their child was born. Today, the cave is a peaceful and magical spot to have lunch or just enjoy the silence and beauty of the red rocks around you. It’s a fairly short and easy hike to the cave, but the end is steep and the sand and rock can be slippery, so be sure to wear proper hiking boots if you go. The trailhead that leads to the Birthing Cave is close to Devil’s Bridge (Another popular Sedona Hike), so it’s definitely possible to do both hikes in one day.
The Birthing Cave Hike
- Trail Length: 2 miles out and back
- Trailhead Location: Long Canyon Trailhead
- GPS Location: 34°54’46.9″N 111°50’10.0″W
- Hiking Time: 1.5 hours
- Cost: Free
- Pet-Friendly: You can bring your dog, but they must be on a leash
We left Sedona with hesitation, wanting to soak in a few more days of sunlight, but knew we needed to carry on. We drove through Phoenix because my mom’s cousin and her family unfortunately tested positive for COVID-19 the week we were planning to visit. We figured there was no other reason to spend more time in Phoenix traffic than we needed to, so we continued South.
Tucson, Arizona– January 16th, 2021
We made the three hour trek from Sedona to Tucson without batting an eye. I remember preparing an entire playlist and complaining to myself every time I used to drive 2 ½ hours to Rochester to go back to school. Now three hours feels like a breeze. I would say we could do it with our eyes closed, but it wouldn’t be true. Mike certainly needs to keep his eyes open, because well… he’s pulling our home behind us and transporting precious cargo (Berk and myself). And for me, after all 12,000 miles we’ve driven so far I’ve never slept once, which is astonishingly surprising. There’s something about this adventure that makes me want to stay awake and experience it fully. I want to notice every sign we pass for a new city, filled with people who are living lives that we know nothing about in a place that is a mystery to us. Everything about it is exhilarating yet so unpredictable.
The sun here in Tucson is changing my world. Even after getting a taste of it in Sedona I’m still realizing how much my body missed it. I honestly feel like it recharges my life. We arrived at Catalina State Park around 3:30pm after going through a debacle on the phone trying to find a place to stay. Typically I reserve a campsite the night before we arrive anywhere, but Arizona was a different story. Since Arizona has superb weather and endless snowbirds the campgrounds book up weeks and months in advance. I called dozens of places only to find the ones that actually had availability required us to be over age 65 or in the military. We ended up finding Catalina Campground through one of my travel friends on Instagram and booked a couple nights of dry camping in their overflow lot. Soon we’d find out that the overflow lot was the place to be anyways. It’s where all the young folks hung out. After checking in, we immediately pulled into the dump station as our black tank was reaching its capacity. Mike struck up a conversation with a man in his forties and his young daughter, while Berk yanked me around the small parking area, excited to sniff everything in his path. The man’s name was Yassine and when he saw our license plate, he mentioned that he used to live in Ithaca, New York. “Small world, Carly and I are both from the Binghamton area”, Mike explained.
We made our way into our tiny campsite in what was known as the “Ringtail Campground” or the overflow lot. There were dozens of fifth-wheels, pop-ups, travel trailers and even tents set up in a U shape around the dirt lot. Every site had it’s own fire pit, picnic table and astonishing view of the Catalina mountain range that stood tall above us. I wandered around looking for the water pump and ran into Yassine, our new friend from the dump station. He struck up a conversation and told me about his wife Erica and daughter Farah and how they were living in their van for three months, with their two dogs, Koda and Goose. I would later meet the dogs and Yassine’s family who were adorable and adventurous. I was mostly blown away by how all five of them could fit in a van that was half the size of our travel trailer. As we talked, he seemed eager and was stretching his legs here and there. I asked him if he was going for a run and he quickly answered, “Yes, through the Catalina mountains!” He told me from the moment he met me at the dump station, he could tell I was a runner, because of my outfit. I accepted his invitation to join his run and sprinted back to the camper to change my sneakers and quickly stretch. I could tell he was going to be fast, but I would soon find out just how fast.
I tied my laces extra tight and we headed up the mountain side by side. I noticed almost immediately how Yassine was talking more than me- something that usually never happens when I run with a partner. It was in the mid-eighties and I was already dripping sweat. We pranced over small boulders, climbed dirt steps and swung around trees following the tight trails through the mountain range. Yassine asked me questions about my career and about why we were traveling and wondered what inspired us to do so. He shared some of his passions, including the company he started in Portland, Oregon where he and his family have lived for the past twelve years. He runs a personal training business, but also organizes trail running camps for kids in Portland. They provide sponsorships for underprivileged youth to attend for free and gain exposure to the sport of trail running.
I asked him about the trail running he’s done and quickly realized he was an ultra-marathoner. He described running one of his 100-mile races and dozens of others. He casually mentioned his sponsorship from Columbia. Yes, THE Columbia- and that’s when I realized just how serious of a runner he was. I was trying to hang on to his pace. It wasn’t any faster than a sub eight-minute mile, but meandering up and down the mountain in 80 degree heat and talking non-stop, made it feel much harder. When I finally asked Yassine for a sip of his water, I’d realized we’d ventured out five miles away from our campground, which meant we were only halfway. I hadn’t run more than three miles since my injury following my marathon in the Fall of 2019.
Together we decided it was time to turn around and head back. We continued sharing our life stories and our passion for travel and living life on the road. We talked about “Rocking chair shit.” It’s the kind of stuff you talk about when you’re old, sitting in your rocking chair on the front porch. Some of your most vivid memories and profound experiences throughout your life. The stories that will be told to your grandkids and their grandkids. The sun was beginning to set and lit up the sky in a gorgeous red color, so we agreed to slow down for a few seconds to snap a picture. Most of the cacti stood tall, while others wilted and died on the ground. Winter in the desert was certainly lacking flowers and wildlife, but it’s beauty was still apparent. I asked Yassine about Shalene Flanagan, Emma Coburn and other female idols of mine in the running world. He’s neighbors with Shalene and knows Emma and Kara Goucher too. I couldn’t believe it nor could I contain my enthusiasm. We stopped our watches as they exceeded the eight mile mark and I bent over to breathe.
When I returned to the camper, Mike was wondering why I was gone so long. I quickly filled him in and he began Googling Yassine Diboun’s name. Soon we’d find out he was in fact a professional runner and ultra-marathoner. He is sponsored by Columbia Sportswear. According to Wikipedia, “Diboun routinely places near the top in some of the most difficult American and international ultra-marathons, including a 3rd-place finish in the 2016 HURT 100 mile race with a finishing time of 22:39:00 and Top Ten finish in the 2013 Western States 100 with a time of 18:44:02.” He was interviewed by the NY times, trail running magazine and a handful of popular podcasts that I’d tune into in the days that followed.
I stuffed my face with a broccoli, chicken and pasta stir-fry dish then laid on our bed for the rest of the night. I was already sore, which meant the next two days would be brutal. I didn’t get up from the bed, only to get an ice cream sandwich out of the freezer and to brag to Mike about how I’m now friends with a professional runner.
Mike woke up early to get the oil changed in our truck. When he got back we invited Yassine over for coffee. He and his daughter Farah complimented our camper and admired our sticker wall before they got on the road to Joshua Tree. They were heading back up the West Coast, while we were heading in the opposite direction. Mike and I biked 6 miles around the campground before coming back to the camper for lunch. We took Berk on a hike through the Coronado State Forest, which is essentially the Catalina Mountain Range. We then hiked about 4 miles as the temperature flirted with 80 degrees. Berk needed many water breaks and it was sad to see all of the burnt cacti from the wildfires that ripped through the area several months prior.
The next day we decided to treat ourselves and upgraded our campsite from Ringtail Campground to campground A- so we would have electricity and more importantly, air conditioning for Berk when we were away. We took a mini day trip to Saguaro (Sah-wah-ro) National Park and hiked five miles around the King Canyon Loop trail. Cacti were everywhere, big and small and oddly shaped. It felt so hot, but I always enjoy the heat of the desert, especially in the Winter. We witnessed a orangey-purple sunset, stuffed our faces with an in-n-out burger then fell asleep early. Our final two days in Tucson were spent mountain biking, taste-testing sushi, drinking sour beers served on a skateboard at Crooked Tooth Brewery and making homemade flatbread pizzas. We watched the inauguration on our tiny phone screens and I had a call with the Nazareth Marketing department about writing an article about our trip for the alumni blog. We washed the Dutchmen at a sketchy car wash/gas station then spent the next three hours driving.
Tombstone, Arizona– January 20th, 2021
It started raining for the second time when we parked in Tombstone. Mike opened up the tailgate to change out of his sneakers and into his boots without saying a word. I chuckled knowing he thought the cowboy boots were necessary, because we were in the wild west now. Sometimes I think Mike should have been born in a different era. He’s always owned his cowboy like persona even when his friends didn’t dress the same. My Dad called and insisted we stop in Tombstone to learn about the history of the old western town. It felt as if we were in a video game and were dropped onto main street in the real wild west. We drank root beer from a corner shop while reading about the legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral between the Earp brothers and a gang in October of 1881. Gunshots rang out in the distance as part of the famous reenactment took place nearby. We tried to take cover then sprinted to the truck as it began to downpour. We had barely seen rain throughout the country until we arrived in the desert, so the irony was laughable.
Only 20 miles from the Mexico border was where we’d stay in McNeal, Arizona at our Harvest Host for the next two nights. High Lonesome Vineyards is a newer winery located in Southeastern Arizona and is famous for their highly popular wine. The rain didn’t let up, so our host invited us into her camper parked alongside the winery. Her camper had pop-outs which immediately made ours feel small. She told us she was from Fulton, NY and explained how after she and her husband left the military they opened the winery as a retirement plan. Now they ship their wines all over the country and sometimes sell out before they get the chance to do so. We sipped their delicious wine, asked questions about their military experience then headed back to our private campsite for the night, kind of tipsy. The views of the vast landscape past the vineyards was stunning. All the rain caused our bathroom roof to leak, so we put a small bucket under it and went to bed.
Bisbee, Arizona– January 21st, 2021
A super funky, historic, haunted little town with steep hills and colorful shops lining them. Bisbee, Arizona is a place worth visiting not only for it’s award-winning Mexican food, but also for the shopping and access to historical mining museums. When we realized we were only seven miles from the border of Mexico we understood why our tacos tasted better here than anywhere we’d ever been. Santiagos was the restaurant we ate at and similar to the wine at High Lonesome Vineyards, Santiago’s walls were covered in awards they had won for their homemade salsa and tacos. The food was to die for, but it was expensive. I begged Mike to take me to Mexico for the day, but quickly back peddled my request realizing neither of us had brought our passports on the trip. We tried to sign up for a tour of the Queen mine located on Bisbee’s hillside, but they were only allowing ten people per train car due to COVID-19 restrictions. Instead we sat in a small, dark room located behind the gift shop and learned about the history of the mine. Something that would have bore me to sleep in high school now seemed so fascinating. As of January 21st, the day we visited Bisbee- Arizona had the highest number of COVID cases in the country, but their lack of restrictions certainly didn’t reflect it.
Las Cruces, New Mexico– January 22nd, 2021
Hacienda RV Resort locked their doors in attempt to keep any customers potentially carrying the virus out. I picked up a packet with our campsite information then Berk and I explored the dog park while Mike set up camp. As soon as we got situated I laced up my sneakers, threw my shorts on and went for a run. When we’re in a new place or a new state in this instance, I always try to take in my surroundings and understand the direction I’m in before venturing out and about. As a woman, I naturally have a fear of getting abducted when I run, but it seems to be more apparent when we’re somewhere new. I chose what I thought was a nice neighborhood just a few miles from our campground and headed in that direction. Something felt off and through the course of my run two separate men slowed their trucks down and yelled something out their windows at me. The one man beeped his horn aggressively before speeding off. I wondered in that moment, if I was a man if that would have happened? Probably not. “Must be nice to run without getting harassed.” I thought. I took my headphones out to make sure I could hear everything and anything else that approached me for the rest of my run-then sprinted home, faster than usual.
We waited in the truck for a half hour before we could be seated outside at High Desert Brewery. We had traveled only three hours from Bisbee Arizona, but the rules changed drastically. It was hard to keep track of which state we were in, let alone what the COVID rules were for that state individually. Eventually we got in and had to celebrate Mike’s first time in New Mexico with an IPA and a mango gose. We took advantage of our strong WIFI and watched ‘Surviving Death’ on Netflix before bed. A show I’d definitely recommend.
Alamogordo, New Mexico– January 23rd, 2021
We woke up excited to visit our 14th National Park and even more thrilled to sled down the sand dunes within it. White Sands National Park was a National Monument until 2019 when the National Park Service declared it a National Park. The white sand covers the landscape like snow and it’s almost blinding to look around during daylight without sunglasses. The park is made up of 275 square miles of white sands dunes composed of gypsum crystals, which is the largest of its kind. It’s tucked within the Tularosa basin, which is surrounded by the San Andrews and the Sacramento mountains. When the rain and snow melt, the mountains dissolve the gypsum and it gets washed down to the basin floor. When this happens and the weather is optimal, the water evaporates and the dissolved minerals recrystallize creating the gypsum. Because of this, the sand never gets hot despite the warm New Mexico temperatures.
I took my sneakers off and carried them so I could feel the cool sand beneath my feet as we hiked five miles along the Alkali Flat Trail. Berk loved the hike and sprinted most of the beginning until he realized he didn’t have much endurance. It was the first national park that we could bring Berk into without any kind of restrictions. We rented a sled and bought wax from the visitor center for $15 which we would recommend. Nowhere in Alamogordo or surrounding towns sells plastic snowboards, so sledding was our only option. I screamed like a little kid the first time I followed Mike’s track down the steep sand dune. I could go a lot faster than Mike because I was lighter, so we made it our mission to make a track where I could go faster each time. It was so much fun and definitely more enjoyable not being bundled in five pounds of snow gear. There were kids everywhere having a blast as their parents drank beers and watched from their camp chairs, scattered around in the parking lot. When in New Mexico this National Park is a must-see and should be followed up with a visit to Caliche’s Custard, located in Las Cruces. Caliche’s is famous for their homemade custard that has been around since 1996.
After one month of filling our laundry bag up with dirty clothes, I decided it was time to do laundry. There was a wind storm warning, so I hung out inside the camper for the day- catching up on writing and folding the clean laundry. Meanwhile, Mike rode about 8 miles on some nearby mountain biking trails. When we left Las Cruces, we drove 45 minutes to El Paso, Texas. We did the scenic drive and as we passed by University of Texas, El Paso we could literally see Mexico- it was exciting to be in one country and see another at the same time. But we agreed that it was sad to notice the major difference in infrastructure between the two locations, only five miles apart. As we neared our next destination I had selected BLM land to camp on for the night. When we arrived at the end of the dirt road we figured we’d see a sign or some kind of indication that we were actually on the BLM land. Instead we were greeted by a dead, mangled coyote. After reviewing the location on my boondocking app, I realized the location information hadn’t been updated since 2006, which meant that was also the last time someone camped there, hence the mangled coyote. I freaked out and made the executive decision that we should pay to camp that night in a nearby town.
White’s City, New Mexico– January 25th, 2021
The name White’s City is deceiving because it was the farthest thing from a city. One restaurant, one campground that was barely maintained and a public restroom made up the bulk of the so-called “city.” Our campsite was essentially a gravel parking spot that backed up to an old wire fence and faced the main road in town. As soon as we arrived I headed for the shower. A rock the size of two fists was shoved up against the door. I knocked and entered only to find a bathroom that resembled what one would see in a jail. The shower head was rusted and hung off the wall sideways. There was no curtain and certainly no shower beneath it- just a drain in the center of the room, adjacent to the exposed toilet. I undressed, locked the door as best as I could and hoped that nobody would try to enter.
One perk though was the location- the next morning we hopped on the main road and drove about seven minutes through the Chihuahuan desert of Southern New Mexico until we reached our 15th National Park, Carlsbad Caverns. We were told to wear layers because the caves tend to be humid and the temperature typically hovers around 53 degrees. Instead of purchasing tickets when we entered the visitor center we showed an employee our parks pass and entered at no cost. She gave us an overview of what to expect while we were underground for the next two hours and then gave us the option to enter the cave via an elevator or the natural entrance. We chose the natural entrance then followed several staircases down a hillside until we reached an auditorium-like structure. The park ranger nearby informed us that it’s off-season for the bats, but typically guests come to the auditorium to watch the bats take flight out of the natural cave entrance. We entered the cave, meandering back and forth down paved walkways that would lead us into darkness and the unknown of what was beneath the surface. We were unaccompanied due to the COVID rule of not allowing guests to be guided by park rangers. Instead we had the chance to strike up conversation and ask questions to a ranger who was posted up on the ground floor of the cave. As we made our way deeper into the natural darkness of the cave, we descended 750 feet underground over one mile. There were tiny lights along the footpath that allowed us to see shadows and just enough of the path was lit up so we wouldn’t trip. The cave walls were massive and as mesmerizing as all of the formations that were within it. When we reached the bottom we were blown away by the mere size of the cave. We had only seen a small portion of it at that point and agreed that it made the cave of the winds in Colorado Springs seem tiny.
Okay, you’re probably wondering what the difference between a cave and a cavern is. Well that was one of the first questions I asked a park ranger. “The dictionary defines a cave as a cavity in the rock. Caves usually have an opening on the side of a hill or mountain. And this opening, maybe horizontal or vertical. Caves are mostly natural, but they can also be the result of human work. Caverns on the other hand, are a category of caves. A cavern is very large and underground. To reach the cavern, you have to take a corridor underground. This also implies that the caverns are often numerous and linked together by underground corridors.” I learned that caverns are caves, but not all caves are caverns.”
There are 117 known caves in the park, the largest being “The Big Room”, which spans a whopping 8.2 acres. We also learned there are 17 species of bats living there (Lucky for us they were all hibernating because it was the off-season). I put my phone on airplane mode and tried my best to take in the magnificence of the stalactites and stalagmites while trying to comprehend the size of everything that surrounded us. It felt like we were on an Indiana Jones movie set. Mike attempted to capture photos, but the darkness overwhelmed the structures, so we decided to take mental photos and take in the energy of it all.
Travel the Fernweh 