Carlsbad Cavern and Guadalupe Mountains NP

After leaving South Padre Island we spent a couple of days at Falcon State Park at the Mexican border. Here we did some hiking and a lot of Rest and Relax. Next on our agenda was an overnight at the Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass. We did not go gambling, just a stop for the night. Fort Stockton was the next stop, again, just one night. Chosa Campground, BLM Land – dry camping (no electricity or water) for 4 nights. This campground is about 15 miles from the Carlsbad Cavern NP and 25 miles to the main visitor center of the Guadalupe Mountains NP. We had a great view from our front window of these mountains. The campground was a level gravel lot and when we arrived there were 3 other RV there. In the evening, more Campers showed up and we were a total of 11. Wednesday we went into the Cavern. We have been here before (18 years ago) and could not remember how steep the descend into the cavern is.  See the pictures to get an idea. The Stalactites and Stalagmites were impressive and the Great Room was filled with Columns, Drapes, Popcorn and other formations. We spend about 2 1/2 hours underground and were thankful for the Elevator that brought us back up to the surface. Thursday we visited Guadalupe Mountain NP and hiked a short, 2.5 miles trail which brought us to two springs. The first Spring was close to the parking area and formed a little lake, the second spring was a 1.5 mile hike a little up the mountain range and ended up being like an oasis in the desert. Guadalupe Mountain is a Hikers Paradise. There are trails from 1mile to 8-10 hour trails. Maria and I for sure will be back one day to tackle some of the longer trails.  Weather vise, the first couple of days we had moderate temperatures, but the last two days, the temperature reached mid 90 and we had to run the generator to cool down our home. Also, the wind picked up on Thursday with speeds up to 30mph and gusts of 40ish mph.Our 31 year old SuziQ struggled keeping speed when going uphill into the wind but was flying with the wind in the back. Our house was rocking so bad that we decided to pull our big slide-out in since the wind was hitting that side. Our house was rocking that day. Friday morning we packed up and headed to Roswell for a two night stay. The drive was not bad since we had the wind in the back most of the time.