Frommer's National Parks of the American West - Don Laine [102]
Capitol Reef Inn & Cafe
360 W. Main St. ☎ 435/425-3271. Main courses $4.95–$11 breakfast and lunch, $8.95–$20 dinner. AE, DISC, MC, V. Daily 7am–9pm. Closed Nov–Mar. AMERICAN.
A local favorite, this restaurant offers fine, fresh, and healthy dining that's among the best you'll find in Utah. Famous for its locally raised trout, the cafe is equally well known for the 10-vegetable salad served with all dinner entrees. Vegetables are grown locally, and several dishes, such as spaghetti, excellent fettuccine primavera, and shish kebabs, can be ordered vegetarian or with various meats or fish. Steaks and chicken are also served. The atmosphere is casual, with comfortable seating, American Indian rugs and crafts, and large windows. The restaurant offers an extensive wine list, plus domestic and imported beers.
Picnic & Camping Supplies
In addition to groceries, the general store at Austin's Chuck Wagon Motel, 12 W. Main St., Torrey (☎ 435/425-3335), has a bakery, a full-service deli that prepares hot and cold sandwiches, a large selection of organic fruits and vegetables, a coin-operated laundry, and a hair salon. Austin's is closed December through February.
10
CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK
by Don & Barbara Laine
ONE OF THE LARGEST AND MOST SPECTACULAR CAVE SYSTEMS IN THE world, Carlsbad Caverns National Park comprises more than 100 known caves that snake through the porous limestone reef of the Guadalupe Mountains. Fantastic and grotesque
formations fascinate visitors, who find every shape imaginable (and unimaginable) naturally sculpted in the underground—from frozen waterfalls to strands of pearls, soda straws to miniature castles, draperies to ice-cream cones.
Formation of the caverns began some 250 million years ago, when a huge inland sea covered this region. A reef formed, and then the sea disappeared, leaving the reef covered with deposits of salts and gypsum. Eventually, uplifting and erosion brought the reef back to the surface, and then the actual cave creation began. Rainwater seeped through cracks in the earth's surface, dissolving the limestone and leaving hollows behind. With the help of sulfuric acid, created by gases released from oil and gas deposits farther below ground, the cavern passageways grew, sometimes becoming huge rooms.
Once the caves were hollowed out, nature's artistry took over, decorating the rooms with a vast variety of fanciful formations. Very slowly, water dripped down through the rock into the caves, dissolving more limestone and absorbing the mineral calcite and other materials on its journey. Each drop of water then deposited a tiny load of calcite, gradually creating the cave formations that lure visitors to Carlsbad Caverns each year.
Although American Indians had known of Carlsbad Cavern for centuries, settlers didn't discover it until sunset flights of bats emerging from the cave attracted ranchers in the 1880s. The first reported trip into the cave was in 1883, when a man supposedly lowered his 12-year-old son into the cave entrance. A cowboy named Jim White, who worked for mining companies that collected bat droppings for use as fertilizer, began to
explore the main cave in the early 1900s. Fascinated by the formations, White shared his discovery with others, and word of the magical underground world soon spread.
Carlsbad Cave National Monument was created in October 1923. In 1926, the first electric lights were installed, and in 1930 Carlsbad Caverns gained national park status.