The rain followed us to Lubbock so we kept going. We had been to Carlsbad before but when we looked at the radar map it wasn’t raining there. And Alltrails showed several hiking trails there.
When we purchased our annual National Park Pass at the Carlsbad Visitors Center, the ranger was surprised we did not want tickets to the caverns.
We checked at the information desk about the hikes. Usually rangers are excited about people who want to get out until nature. Not this one. He seemed to not want us out there and said the gravel road was dangerous and that rangers rarely checked the road or trails. He suggested the walk into the Caverns or hiking in the Guadeloupe Mountains.
We assured him we would make it to the Guadeloupe Mountains but today we wanted to hike here. And that our van Sparty was familiar with gravel roads and wash outs.
“Well I can’t stop you but I do not recommend it.” was his final thoughts on our plans.
We headed out that gravel road to the trailhead. That road was better than most backcountry roads we have been on.Hiking the Juniper Ridge Trail gave us views of the canyon.
(Bonus:. Where’s Sparty in this picture)
There were also a number of rocks with seashell fossils.