Begin forwarded message: From: Michael Lorimer <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: [SWR CAVERS] A Visit to the Caverns Date: September 20, 2019 at 8:30:49 AM CDT To: <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>>
In the summer of 1975, I was a ranger, park aid, at Carlsbad Caverns. I've been all over that cave. A couple of weeks ago, my wife, Kara, and I went back to the caverns. Things have changed. I have a couple of comments. In 1975, the Doll's Theater was an amazing sight. Even the curtain opening looked like it was sculptured by an artist. That is until I learned that the curtain opening was caused by an orange thrown by a kid. No more fruit would be sold in the underground lunchroom after that. When I saw the Doll's Theater recently, I was shocked. There was hardly a soda straw left. Only a couple inch plus rock resisting columns were left. Why did this have to happen? It would have been better to leave the thing in the dark without a sign to signify that here was a target. The Caverns management ought to have semi-annual rock clean up to remove any and all ammunition close to the trail. Dump the rocks far away from the tourists and their trail. On a lighter note, in 1975, the rangers were assigned periodic duty at the information desk in the underground lunchroom. It was boring duty with the same old questions. "How much of this cave is underground?" "How many miles of unexplored passages are there?" So one day, I took the microphone and announced, "Carlsbad Caverns is pleased to announce the addition of a rock detector in the underground elevator lobby near the lunchroom." We made this announcement every ten minutes. Subsequent shifts participated in the charade. Soon there were rocks showing up in the bathrooms, on the trails near the underground elevator lobby, everywhere, but the underground elevator lobby itself. We even found a hunk of concrete set next to the lobby doors. Soon, people started to complain to management. "You don't trust us." Finally, park administration gave the order to stop this nonsense. What harm did it do? At the minimum, the tourists were clearing that area of ammunition (see above). I felt that the word had to get out about the damage. As part of my duties as a ranger/tour guide, I would give short lectures on cave geology and at the end of each lecture, I would say a couple words about how the self guided tours were hurting the cave. The next summer they hired an extra fifteen park aids. Needless to say, I wasn't rehired the next summer. I guess that Carlsbad Caverns is the nation's largest sacrifice cave. One more point: the new subdued lighting system. I hadn't been in the cave in some twenty five years. I had heard of the new lighting system. I even heard that they were going to do something back in 1975. However, this was my first visit with the new system. Boy is it dark. Stupid, I know, as caves are supposed to dark. I know that the subdued lighting is supposed to discourage the growth of algae and other unwanted critters. That's all well and good. However, the lighting on the main passage could be called dangerous. My wife, fairly athletic, but not a caver, struggled to make it down to the Big Room with the help of a flashlight. I had to use the railings the entire way. Hey, I'm seventy. It seemed like an entirely different cave. Good for the cave, but not so good for the tourist. The Big Room lighting wasn't that bad. Two suggestions. Light the trail base. Small LED lights placed and secured every three or four feet would help greatly. Also, have motion and/or heat sensor's to turn off the lights when not needed. Keep a few lights on to show the depth and breadth of the cave. This wouldn't work well in the summer at the peak of the tourist season, but it may help. If something's not done, someone's going to be hurt or killed. Mike Lorimer San Antonio, Texas -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Southwestern Cavers of the National Speleological Society" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/swrcavers/a79d9359-04bd-9979-4301-bb5afd387873%40gmail.com. ________________________________ UT Southwestern Medical Center The future of medicine, today.
_______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com [email protected] | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
