Day 7

June 16, 2015

I woke up, once again, after torrential rains to sunrise in the mountains.  There were still dark clouds on the horizon.  Before I got out of my tent, I had a chorus of birds calling.  One stood out.  There was a vireo calling.  In the campground, there was only one possible candidate, Plumbeous.

#376 Plumbeous Vireo

This would be the only bird I get today.  The rest of the day will be sight-seeing and driving.

First sight to see is Carlsbad Caverns.  I figured, why not, since I’m here.  It’s only 40 miles away.

Words don’t do the caverns justice.  It felt like a scene out of Journey to the Center of the Earth (which, it turns out, was filmed here).

From the Caverns, I heading on into El Paso.  I just wanted a short rest, gas, and coffee.  At some point along the trip, I noticed my car starting to wobble.  I didn’t think much of it and drove on.

After consulting with a few friends, they all convinced me to head immediately to White Sands National Monument.  So I did.

Once again, I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

From here, I headed on to the Chiricahua Mountains.  I’ve been trying to bird this area correctly for a long time.  I got in late that night as the sun was setting.  Oh guess what, I had to drive through more storms.  Again.

I met a friend here who would accompany me throughout my Arizona leg and help find some of the awesome birds I needed.