VIEWPOINTS
OUR THOUGHTS ON THE PLACES WE'VE BEEN
LONG STORY SHORT Note: We didn’t get to do everything we wanted to in Guadalupe Mountains. High winds forced us to hit the road a day early, and as a result, we missed out on a couple hikes that may have changed our opinion of this park.
Why is Guadalupe Mountains a national park? Apparently this is a frequently asked question, as it’s written on a white board at the visitor center. The answer: It’s one of the most well-preserved fossil reefs in the world. It was once part of an ancient seafloor, and its home to a plethora of fossils. That’s good enough for me, but the fact that the question needs to be asked also indicates how unremarkable these mountains appear at a glance.
0 Comments
LONG STORY SHORT We’ve explored quite a few caves. Most of them fairly tight, with all the typical cave formations you’d expect. Carlsbad Caverns National Park also has the typical cave formations—but as the biggest cave we’ve ever seen, it has a lot of them.
LONG STORY SHORT White Sands is one of the newer national parks, promoted from its “National Monument” status in 2019. Its dunes are notable for their sparkling white color, but during our visit, White Sands felt more like a national monument than a national park. We had fun, but it’s got one feature to explore and required only a couple hours of our time.
LONG STORY SHORT By Jason Clark It’s rare to come across true hidden gems these days, but Chiricahua National Monument might just be one of them—for now. A legitimate candidate for promotion to “National Park” status, Chiricahua and its rocky pinnacles are still relatively unknown despite being arguably more interesting than some current national parks.
|