Day 2 cont'd....

We had a great time in Carlsbad Caverns, it really is beautiful down there! As we were leaving, we spotted a gravel road with a sign on it, so we pulled in to check it out. It was the entrance to Walnut Canyon Drive. This is a 9.5-mile loop road which starts 1/2 mile from the Carlsbad Caverns entrance and proceeds along a ridge to Rattlesnake Canyon, returning to the visitor center through Upper Walnut Canyon. The sign said the drive would take about 1 hour, and it's a narrow 1 way road. The girls and I decided to check it out, and we are glad we did!

We didn't see any wildlife, much to the girls dismay. Tayler was really hoping to see rattlesnakes or tarantulas....me....not so much. She was hoping to see some, I was praying to not see any. Turns out, prayers work the best!! :)

We did see cactus...and more cactus. The views were spectacular!

This is looking back at the visitor center of Carlsbad Caverns

Will she ever learn??

Close up shot of a "bud" on a Walking Cane Cactus plant

Here is part of the drive...

Cacti...(I took this picture from inside the truck)

Kati is always posing

She was trying to decide if she wanted to hike

Tayler was on the hunt for snakes

This was a cool looking cactus plant - it actually looked like a dead tree, until you got close

It had eyes too

Cactus everywhere!

After we made our way around the entire trail (which took about 2 hours for us) we headed out of Carlsbad National Park. At the entrance is an area called White's City. It's basically a campground, a couple of motels and some shops. We stopped to get something to drink.