Mysteries in Our National Parks: Running Scared: A Mystery in Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Dr. Rhodes winced a little, then reached down to pick up an empty wastebasket. After she turned it upside down, she carefully placed her left foot on top of it. An elastic bandage had been wrapped around her ankle. “A sprain,” she explained when she saw the Landons looking at it. “I tried to take a shortcut down a slippery slope, and I twisted my ankle.”

“Does it hurt?” Olivia asked. “Yes, of course it must hurt. The kids shouldn’t be taking up any more of your time, Dr. Rhodes.”

“Oh, it doesn’t hurt me that much,” she answered. “It’s fun to talk to kids; I enjoy it. Anyway, I’ll just end this little session with a few more bat facts. Like this one—bats’ knees bend backward, not forward like yours.” She pointed to Sam, whose knees were tucked under his chin. Ashley looked thoughtfully at her own knees, probably wondering how it would feel if they bent backward.

“And bats have been around for 50 million years,” Dr. Rhodes went on. “We know that from finding fossils that old. But most of all, I want you to remember that bats are intelligent creatures and tremendously useful ecologically. If there are 400,000 bats flying out of Carlsbad Cavern every night eating bugs, can you imagine how many tons of bugs that makes in a month? In a year?

That’s a tremendous help to farmers.”

“How much can each bat eat?” Jack asked.

“Considering the size of a bat, quite a lot. A nursing female will leave her baby tucked nice and warm with the other pups in the ‘bat nursery,’ then fly out into the night to eat her entire body weight—about 12 or 13 grams—in insects. Then she’ll return to her baby, nurse it again, and maybe fly out a second time in a single night to eat that many bugs all over again. Then back to her baby. She never leaves her baby for long. She’s a gentle, caring mother.”

Sam, who’d seemed fascinated by Dr. Rhodes’s lesson, suddenly looked as though he were about to cry. Maybe it was the mention of “a gentle, caring mother,” which Sam didn’t have. Steven must have noticed Sam’s sad expression too, because he stood up and said, “I guess we’d better get going. I told the kids I’d take them into the cavern. Sammy’s really anxious to see Left Hand Tunnel.”

“Left Hand Tunnel? Two different species of bats live there,” Dr. Rhodes said, “the cave myotis and the fringed myotis. Both species are quite rare. We’ve counted only 354 of the cave myotis and only 12 of the fringed myotis.”

Well, Jack thought, at least that particular tunnel wouldn’t be teeming with countless thousands of bats. He felt a little relieved.

“I hope I get to see those rare bats,” Steven told her. “I’m really anxious to shoot some pictures like the ones you just showed us.”

“Steven is a photographer,” Olivia explained.

“Oh.” Dr. Rhodes hesitated, then said, “Well, you understand, Mr. Landon, that you’ll have to use infrared film in the caves.”

“Uh…no! I knew I couldn’t use the flash attachment when the bats were flying out of the cavern because it interferes with their echolocation system—their sonar.

But I figured that when they weren’t flying, when they’re just hanging in the caves, I could use my regular flash attachment with fast film.”

“Uh-uh.” Dr. Rhodes shook her head. “The light from a flash attachment, or any kind of light at all, really bothers the bats. That’s why we keep the lighting in the Big Room quite low, and in Left Hand Tunnel there’s no light at all. You’ll have to use infrared film and an infrared filter on your flash.”

Steven looked crestfallen. “I don’t have any of that with me. But—do you think I can buy these things in the city of Carlsbad? Would a photo store carry them?”

“I’m sure it would.”

“Then I’ll just have to drive back to Carlsbad,” Steven said. “Right now.”

“Da-ad!” Ashley complained, drawing it out into two syllables. “I thought you were going to take us through the cavern.”

“Left Hand T-T-Tunnel,” Sammy agreed, nodding.

Carefully, favoring her sore ankle, Dr. Rhodes got to her feet before she told them, “Your dad couldn’t take you through Left Hand Tunnel by himself—you have to sign up to be part of a tour group. Let’s see, what time is it? You might be able to hook up with a tour, but you’ll need an adult with you. Kids under 16 aren’t allowed to tour the cavern without a parent or guardian.”

All their plans seemed to be falling apart, Jack realized. Their dad wanted to make the long drive back to the city of Carlsbad. It would take him at least two hours to get there, find a store, buy the film and filter—if the store had them—and drive back. Their mother needed to stay with Dr. Rhodes. Ashley and Sam and Jack couldn’t tour the cavern without an adult. So what were they supposed to do?

“I have an idea,” Dr. Rhodes said. “I can take you kids down into the cavern and see if there’s still room in the next tour to Left Hand Tunnel. I know the ranger who’s guiding the tour, so even if it’s pretty full, she might bend the rules a little bit and let you join the group as her responsibility.”

“Dr. Rhodes, I can’t let you make that trip down into the cavern,” Olivia objected. “I can see that you’re in pain from that swollen ankle.”

Wavering between hope and disappointment, Sam’s big eyes kept traveling from one adult to another. Ashley, too, seemed to be holding her breath, waiting to see how it would all turn out.

“Here’s another thought,” Dr. Rhodes said. “I’ll ask one of the office assistants to take the kids down. We’ll pull a little rank and get them into that tour.”

Ashley clapped her hands, which made her look like she was as young as Sam. Was Jack the only one who wasn’t all hot to go through those narrow, dark tunnels? He’d better not show it, or Ashley would make some smart-faced remark.

When they exited Dr. Rhodes’s office, they found only one woman seated at a desk, typing fast on a computer.

“Hello, Consuela. Where are the others?” Dr. Rhodes asked her. “They’ve all gone to lunch. I wanted to finish this report, so I told them to go ahead without me.” Consuela was a pretty woman, round and soft with big brown eyes and black hair pulled into a ponytail. “Can I help you?” she asked.

After Dr. Rhodes introduced them all and explained the situation, Consuela said, “I can take the kids down to the cavern. I’m just finishing this report now.”

“Great!” Steven exclaimed, pulling out his wallet. “This is to pay for the tour. And there’s a lunchroom down in the cavern, right? Here’s some extra money so the kids can buy themselves lunch, and you, too, Ms…uh….”

“Sandoval. Consuela Sandoval. But call me Consuela. Thanks, Mr. Landon. I’ll get everybody fed before the tour departs. It’s a great tour. My grandson loves it.”

“You have grandkids?” Olivia blurted. “You look way too young.”

Consuela grinned and said, “I was married at 16, and I have two grown sons plus a 9-year-old grandson, but thanks for the compliment.” Turning to the three kids, she said, “We’d better get started. Do you all have something warm to wear? Most of the caves are just 56 degrees, although parts of Left Hand Tunnel are warmer than that. Still, it can feel pretty chilly when you’re there for a while.”

Jack and Ashley opened their backpacks and took out fleecy hooded sweatshirts; Jack’s was blue, Ashley’s gray. Sam had a mustard-colored fake-leather zippered jacket.

It was too small, but at least it would keep him warm.

“We’re good to go,” Ashley announced. “See you later, Mom and Dad.”

CHAPTER THREE

Outside the visitor center, the temperature had risen to 100 degrees; on the walk from Dr. Rhodes’s office, Jack had to wipe sweat from his forehead.

It was hard to believe that when they descended into the cavern, they’d feel chilly.

“How do we get down to the cavern?” Ashley asked.

“Well,” Consuela answered, “if we had more time, we’d go to the natural entrance of the cave and hike down the twisty, turny path to the bottom. But that would take about an hour, and you’d miss your tour. So we’ll use the elevator.”

“Elevator?” That was a surprise to Jack. In all the national parks his family had visited, they’d never reached a natural wonder by elevator. That sounded kind of out of line with National Park policy, which was to keep everything exactly as it was in nature.

“Just wait till you try it,” Consuela told them. “It’s quite a ride.”

They’d entered the visitor center, filled with hundreds of tourists from all over the globe who were milling around, strolling from the gift shop to the bookstore to the restaurant and all the other attractions in between. There were exhibits on bats, geology, and the history of Carlsbad Caverns, plus movies that showed how the formations grew. “I want to check out all this stuff after we tour the cavern,” Jack told Ashley, and Consuela added, “You can spend hours in here and not see everything. And then there are the trails outside. They’re worth checking out, too.”

Little kids of all shades ran around the center, shouting to each other in different languages. Since it happened to be late July, school was no longer in session. Older kids studied the exhibits.

“Elevator’s over this way,” Consuela said, leading them. She reached for Sam’s hand so he wouldn’t get swept away in the throng of visitors. He smiled up at her shyly as they came to a stop in front of the elevator doors. At least for a little while, Sam was holding on to someone other than Jack, and Jack enjoyed the freedom.

Soon the elevator doors opened, and the four of them entered. “Now, hold on to your sombreros,” Consuela said. “We’re about to descend 754 feet in less than a minute. See that little box up there? Watch the numbers, and it’ll show you how fast we’re going down.” The doors closed, the elevator began to drop, and Jack’s stomach lurched.

He grabbed on to the elevator wall, afraid he’d get queasy, but the ride was surprisingly smooth. He couldn’t take his eyes off the red digital numbers that measured their fall: 50 feet, 100 feet, 200—the red numbers changed with every 50 feet the elevator dropped—250, 350, 500, 650, 700—wow! What a ride! It was almost like free-falling in outer space. All too soon they reached ground zero, where Consuela said, “End of the trip. Everybody out!”