Good day, GenXTalkin. Welcome to GenXTalkin Story Time with Matt Marshall and Ed Wasson. Today our story is called “Trip to Desert Caverns”. 

Our story today deals with good college buddies Tommy, John, Jason and their girlfriends Jenny, Casi, and Kiersa. These fine American youth just got through their junior year at Shamon U in NEW YORK CITY! They have the opportunity – time, space, and money-wise – and they’ve chosen to travel to the famous Desert Caverns of northern New Mexico (A FICTIONAL NATIONAL MONUMENT intended to seem a lot like Carlsbad Caverns. However, no resemblance is intended to be made to anyone living or dead).

[In reality, part of this scenario strongly resembles something I experienced with friends while hiking in the western US.]

They plan their flights and pack their bags. Figuring they are going to the hot desert they all mostly pack shorts and short sleeve tops and shirts. Figuring they might do a bit of hiking on some trails, they take small back packs with pockets for a water bottle. 

The group arrived in Albuquerque, NM and rented a car to drive to the Desert Caverns – a three-and-a-half-hour drive. The town near the caverns is called TikTok. It got its name from the Chinese app and China gave the town an amount of money for the name change – they needed the money. [Interesting side note, NM has a town named Truth or Consequences that got its name from a 1950s radio game show.]  New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the US. With the infusion of money they invested in tourism, paved some of the main streets, and got a new Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and a Marriott Hotel. Nothing too fancy – it’s just a Marriott Courtyard.]

The townsfolk are friendly with tourists. And at the local greasy spoon called Stop and Puke, they got advice on where to park, where to hike, where to camp, and where to go for the best views. 

The townsfolk and all the pamphlets and information about the area advised to drink at least one gallon of water per day per person during the summer; never stray off the trails as the area is desert offering little prominent terrain features for dead-reckoning, so it’s easy to get lost; wear pants and long sleeve shirts and hats or high SPF sun screen to protect from the sun; watch for snakes in the day, and bobcats and coyotes in the morning and evening.   

Tommy drives the rest of the way and gets the group to the camp site parking lot. They each have two gallons of water in their backpacks along with enough clothes and hygiene items to camp for two nights while they explore the caverns. The group also has a large cooler on wheels with enough picnic items to eat small meals through the two days. They left additional items in an additional large cooler full of ice, drinks, and food. [Interesting twist – Casi has type 1 diabetes. She has to monitor herself frequently and she has enough insulin for 5 days.]

Now on the way down to the camp site and trail area near the entrance to the caverns, it was easy going. It’s downhill and it was cooler that day – only 90˚. So, the group got down to the cavern entrance with relative ease. It’s about 8 miles or two and half hour hike down. 

They enter the caverns and see all the main points, which takes about three hours, and then it’s time to head out and get back to the camp ground. A couple of miles into their trip back up, they decide to stop off the side of the trail in a clearing in the hilly desert and camp there overnight.

They have three two-man tents among them, set those up, build a small camp fire, have a small bite and some wine and relax under the clear starry sky listening to the nearby coyote howls. 

Wake up the next morning and everything is fine. A quick small breakfast and cup of coffee for some, pack up the tents, clear the camp site, and start hiking up. 

About a mile along the return journey from their camp site, with probably only about four miles to get to the main camp site and parking area where their rental is parked, trouble starts.

First, it’s a blazing hot day – by 11am it’s already about 96˚ and it’s only going to get hotter. Second, they end up walking about 90 minutes – possibly about 4 miles – before they realize they have gotten off on a wrong side trail. Being so remote, the traditional cell phone maps app doesn’t work well.

It’s Casi who breaks out a map and compass to ultimately discover they are off track and they are now about eight miles from the main camp site and parking lot. It’s a bit uphill most of the way, and by the time they figured this all out it is now just past high noon and the temperature is about 100˚ and it’s probably going to keep getting hotter. 

Lastly, John, who is about a 360 pound football player, twists his ankle on the trail. He can’t walk on his own now. 

After a pow-wow, they decide Jason will stay with John while all the others hook it as quickly as they can to the vehicle, and then drive the vehicle a long circuitous route to the other end of the park where they would only be about one mile from John and Jason, and they would extract from there. 

Fortunately, all of that goes as planned. Tommy, Casi, Kiersa, and Jenny all make it back to the main camp site and parking lot to their rental; they drive the route to get to the other side of the park, which takes them about 45 minutes, and they hike about a mile down that trail and they all help John hobble that mile back to the rental vehicle.

They get back into town and get John’s ankle looked at by docs at the rapid aide, and entirely smoked, they decide to just get a hotel room instead of camp, and they crash in their beds for about 10 hours. At least they all made it out OK.

Interesting reads:

Two Went Out, One Came Back

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/07/books/two-went-out-one-came-back.html

Missing father and son found dead in Carlsbad Caverns National Park

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/06/22/missing-father-and-son-found-dead-carlsbad-caverns-national-park/418402001/ 

• What were some of the more glaring mistakes they made?
• What items could they have brought that might have helped more?
• Is there a better way they could have approached the clothing plans?
• What did they do right?