If you have been following along, you know our last stop was Bisbee, AZ. After our visit to Bisbee, we’re continuing our long way home with a stop at White Sands National Park. This checks another box off our goal of visiting all the National Parks in the lower 48 states. White Sands sits in the Tularosa Basin in New Mexico. The unique geology of the area created the 275 squre-mile gypsum dunefield, making it the largest in the world. You can visit White Sands in as little as half a day or you can take a couple days to thoroughly explore it. Our visit was somewhere in between. You can read all about our experience at White Sands by clicking here. In the meantime, here are some more pictures to maybe whet your appetite.
Museum of Space History
In close proximity to White Sands is the New Mexico Museum of Space History in the nearby town of Alamogordo. It’s stated mission is to ‘inspire and educate, to promote and preserve, and to honor the pioneers of space exploration.’ The Tularosa Basin and New Mexico played a significant role in the development of the US space program. As a Smithsonian Affiliate, the museum houses some high-tech entertainment (the Clyde W. Tombaugh Theater and Planetarium, featuring a giant dome-screen and state-of-the-art surround sound) as well as exhibits preserving the race to space. What began as the International Space Hall of Fame has developed into a showcase of the breakthroughs in technology that occurred in the Alamogordo area. The $8.00 admission is a small price to pay for the experience. It’s well worth a stop.
Oliver Lee State Park
Our home base for exploring the area was Oliver Lee State Park, located just south of Alamogordo. It’s the closest campground to White Sands National Park. The park is located at the base of the Sacramento Mountains at the mouth of Dog Canyon and has incredible views of both the mountains and the Tularosa Basin. Oliver Lee had a ranch of about one million acres here. He explored way of bringing water to the Tularosa Basin and played a large role in establishing the town of Alamogordo. He also was instrumental in attracting the railroad to the area. When you aren’t out visiting the many local attractions, there are several hiking trails to explore the pools of water, springs and ferns clinging to mossy rocks in Dogwood Canyon. We’re planning a return trip when we have more time to fully enjoy the park.
Back On The Road
Continuing our long way home after our time at White Sands, we headed for Alabaster Caverns State Park in Freedom, Oklahoma because, why not? We crossed New Mexico and Texas on US 70 and US 60. There isn’t much along this route other than cows and trains. Oh, and wind. Constant winds in the 20 to 30 mph range with higher gusts made driving with the trailer a bit of a challenge. I had to use a pry bar to get my hands off the steering wheel when we stopped for the night. We also didn’t pass up many opportunities to get gas as you never knew how far away the next town was.
I need to give a special shout out to one town, in particular. Portales, NM had to have the most cannabis dispensaries per capita of any place in the US. There seemed to be one on every corner. I imagine the population here is pretty laid back.
Alabaster Caverns State Park
Alabaster Caverns State Park has the largest natural gypsum cave open to the public in the world and the only gypsum show cave in the United States. The cave is about 3/4-mile in length and formed of alabaster, a rare form of gypsum. The gypsum alabaster is a soft mineral often used for art carvings and plaster. It was deposited millions of years ago when seawater covered Northwest Oklahoma. Over time, the water streams tunneled caverns, leaving behind white, pink and the extremely rare black alabaster, along with selenite crystals.
There are no stalactites or stalagmites typically seen in most caves. Legend has it the main cave was a hideout for notorious outlaws, including the Dalton Gang in the 1890s. Settlers during the Land Run of 1893 made marks on the walls of the cave that can still be seen today. Today, visitors only get to tour about half of the cave, entering and exiting the same way, rather than walking the entire length due to a recent cave-in blocking the original entrance.
In 1967, the Oklahoma Civil Defense designated Alabaster Caverns as a fallout shelter for both natural disasters and/or nuclear attack. The area had room for about 3,000 people with very limited supplies. What could possibly go wrong with that scenario? The cave was never used for that purpose (thank goodness) and the government removed the survival supplies in the late-1970s. The cave is still considered a fallout shelter even now. The timbers you see in the picture are fake. They made them for the film “The Bygone; Old Sins, New West”. The director, Graham Phillips, filmed a few scenes down here. Phillips talks about making the movie in an interview with StarryMag. Click here if you’re interested in reading about that.
Bats
Bats are another attraction of Alabaster Caverns. Five different species totaling nearly 20,000 bats live here. The best time to spot a bat during the tour is in the hibernation period from December to March. Since we were visiting in early April, the bats were starting to wake up and there were a few that were flying around. Not the time to visit if you’re the least bit squeamish about bats.
There is one spot in the tour where the guide points out a heart shaped formation. The guide has couples stand under it and take pictures in various romantic poses. After everyone gets their turn, the guide tells the group that this whimsical spot is located directly beneath the RV dump station. There may or may not be a metaphor in there somewhere.
Hiking
There are a few hiking tails that begin and end behind the Visitor’s Center. Some take you along the rim of the canyon while others lead you into the canyon. None of them are very long or strenuous but the scenery is stunning.
Wild Caves
In addition to the main cave, Alabaster Caverns maintains four caves on the property especially for wild caving, or spelunking. You can get a permit to camp in two of them, the Water Cave and the Owl Cave. We can’t say if you will see any owls or not (we didn’t) but these seem like great places to spend a night or two. Maybe in our younger years.
On to Blairsville
After our time at Alabaster Caverns,we headed to the mountain town of Blairsville, GA near the borders of Tennessee and North Carolina The roads in and out of town pass through some beautiful scenery with plenty of opportunities to engage in outdoor activities – especially rafting.
Blairsville is in the heart of North Georgia’s Blue Ridge Mountains and is one of Georgia’s best kept secrets, even though it’s a popular summertime destination. There are plenty of hiking opportunities of all difficulty levels in the surrounding mountains as well as several beautiful waterfalls. The most famous trail in the area is the Appalachian trail. The AT winds 80 miles through the nearby Chattahoochee National Forest. I can proudly say I hiked the width of the trail twice.
We found a nice camping spot right on the 4,180-acre Lake Nottely at Poteete Creek Campgrounds. There are no natural lakes in Georgia so this lake exists as result of a dam on the Nottely River. The 106 miles of shoreline offers boating, swimming, fishing, picnicking, hiking and camping. The campground is only open April 1 through October 15 so plan your trip here accordingly.
Kerr Lake
After our stop in Blairsville, we continued our long way home with a stop at Kerr Lake State Recreation Area along the border of North Carolina and Virginia. The John H. Kerr dam, built by the US Army Corps of Engineers across the Roanoke River, creates the reservoir. There are eight access areas around the 800 miles of shoreline along this 50,000-acre reservoir. There are seven campgrounds plus boat access to one of the best fishing lakes in the eastern US. Other activities include swimming, boating, water skiing, bird watching and hiking. Both the Blairsville area and Kerr Lake are places we have been to before. Pictures of our hikes and water falls from those times can be seen here. It’s one of our favorite places to stop on our way to and from our destinations out west.
Susquehanna State Park
The final stop on our long way home takes us to Susquehanna State Park in a very picturesque part of northern Maryland. Located along the Susquehanna River Valley the park has a heavy forest cover and rocky terrain. There is a wide variety of outdoor recreational opportunities here. Fishing, boating, and camping are popular here and there are fifteen miles of trails for hiking and equestrian use. The park is home to some of the most popular mountain biking trails in Maryland.
Susquehanna State Park is home to at least 2 Champion Trees. Champion Trees are the largest of a certain species in the state. One of them is an American beech tree. The beech tree has a thin, soft, smooth bark that makes carving initials on it easy. Unfortunately, that allows wood eating insects, fungus and disease to get in. You can see the result. The other Champion Tree is a white oak. It looks like someone is going to great lengths to save it.
The Days of Yore
The restored Rock Run Historic Area of the park is located down by the river. It has a working gristmill, the Carter-Archer Mansion, Jersey Toll House and the remains of the Susquehanna & Tidewater Canal. prosperous businessman and landowner John Stump built the former flour mill in 1798. During its most successful years, the mill sold flour to both local and international markets. The three-story stone structure was partially restored in the 1960s, and features a working water wheel and an operational millstone. If you time your visit right, you can get a live demonstration.
On the hill which overlooks the mill stands the Carter-Archer House. John Carter, a partner of John Stump in the Rock Run Mill, built this majestic 14-room stone structure in 1804. When Carter died a year later, the house passed to the Stumps’ daughter, Ann, and her husband, Dr. John Archer, Jr. One of their children, James J. Archer, served as a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The state has restored several rooms and furnished them with period antiques.
Associated with the mansion are a stone carriage barn and a stone springhouse, where the water still runs clear and cold. There is a self-guided walking tour covering these and several other historical buildings. This park is going to require another visit to fully explore.
Finally Home
We finally completed our long journey home. This trip had some challenges for us. The weather was somewhat less than ideal so we had to rely on our generator more than we would’ve liked. In addition, the generator was proving to be a bit unreliable as it would shut down and not restart for more than an hour. Not great when you’re restricted to the times you can run it.
On top of all that, the refrigerator was acting a bit wonky the last couple months. At the start of our trip, it was working fine. Then it decided to start working intermittently. We had the power board replaced but that only seemed to solve the problem for a couple days. Then a few days before we got home, it started working like a champ. I know what’s going to happen when I take it in to get looked at. Such is life.
We’ll spend a little time here taking care of business until it’s time to hit the road again. Where and when that will be is still up in the air. When we do, you will be the first to know. If you have been to any of these places, we would love to hear about your experiences. Thanks for following along and maybe we’ll see you out on the road.
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