Page 548 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

546  THE SOUTHWEST

£ Roswell gallery of limestone caves.
* 50,000. n 912 N Main St, (575) From the visitor center, elevators
624-7704. Open 8:30am–5:30pm drop 750 ft (229 m) down to
Mon–Fri, 10am–3pm Sat & Sun. the Big Room. This space can
∑ seeroswell.com also be reached via the Natural
Entrance Route, which involves
This small ranching town is a a half-hour walk over a steep,
byword for aliens and UFOs paved trail.
since the night of July 4, 1947, Limestone columns in the Big Room at A self-guided tour leads to the
when an unidentified airborne Carlsbad Caverns Big Room, 25 stories high and
object crashlanded here. Jim 8 acres (3 ha) in area, festooned
Ragsdale, camping nearby, later $ Carlsbad Caverns with stalagmites, stalactites,
claimed (in 1995) to have seen National Park and flowstone formations.
a flash, a craft hurtling through The adjoining ranger-led King’s
the trees, and the bodies of four 3225 National Parks Hwy, Carlsbad. Palace Tour takes in the
~ to Carlsbad. @ to White’s City.
“little people,” with snake-like Tel (575) 785-2232, (877) 444-6777 deepest cave open to the
skin. The US Air Force issued (tour reservations). Open May–Aug: public, 830 ft (250 m) below
a statement at the time that a 8am–3:30pm daily; Sep–mid-May: ground. To its right, a paved
flying saucer had been 8am–2pm (Natural Entrance). Last section serves as the popular
recovered, and despite a denial entry times. Closed Dec 25. & 7 Underground Lunchroom, a
later on, the story caught partial. 8 ∑ nps.gov/cave diner and souvenir shop.
people’s imagination. The caverns’ recesses are
Witnesses were allegedly Located in the state’s remote the summer abode of almost
sworn to secrecy, fueling southeastern corner, this park a million free-tailed bats. They
rumors of a cover-up and alien protects one of the world’s emerge at dusk to cross the
conspiracy theories to this day. largest cave systems. Geological desert in search of food.
The International UFO Museum forces carved out this complex
and Research Center of chambers, and their
features a collection of decorations began to % White Sands
newspaper clippings be formed around National
and photographs of 500,000 years ago
the crash site, and a when dripping water Monument
film with over 400 deposited drops of the Hwy 70. Tel (575) 479-6124.
interviews of various crystalized mineral calcite. Open 9am–5pm daily (mid-Mar–
people connected to Pictographs near the Sep: extended hours). Closed Dec 25.
the incident. Roswell’s Alien Natural Entrance & 7 8 ∑ nps.gov/whsa
Roswell’s Museum Zone symbol indicate that they had
and Art Center houses been visited by Native The glistening dunes of the
a large collection of artifacts on Americans, but it was cowboy White Sands National Monument
the history of the American Jim White who brought them rise up from the Tularosa Basin
West. The fascinating Robert H. to national attention in 1901. at the northern end of the
Goddard Collection details Concrete trails and electric Chihuahuan Desert. It is the
11 years of experiments by lights have been laid out world’s largest gypsum dune
the famous rocket scientist. through this underground field, covering around
Desert Flora and Fauna
Most of the Southwest is covered by four deserts,
yet it is not an arid wasteland. The Sonoran Desert,
with its rich array of flora and fauna, is famed for
its saguaro cactus. The climatic extremes of the
Chihuahuan Desert support hardy agaves and
coyotes. The cooler Great Basin is home to many
Desert scorpion grasses and desert animals. The winter rain in the
Mojave Desert results in a spectacular display of
wild-flowers in spring.
Bighorn sheep are shy, elusive
Prickly pear cacti flower creatures and are not easily
in spring and are among the spotted. Now a protected species,
largest of the many types of they are being gradually
cacti that flourish in the reintroduced throughout the
Sonoran Desert. desert areas.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp550–52 and pp553–5

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Date 1st October 2013
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