We choose to go exploring Lincoln National Forest area North of Carlsbad today. David had been in this area several time in the 1990s. Our first stop was Sitting Bull Falls. David had been to it with his work friends in the 90s but it has changed considerably from what he remembered with a lot more facilities built up and now a paved path to the falls. The falls are fed by springs higher up on the mesa. The falls area at one point was a cave that had colapsed. There is a cave behind the main falls but you require special permits to go into it. The water was running slow but steady over the falls. This area is part of an exposed reef dating back to the Permian period when this area was an inland sea. After Sitting Bull Falls we decided to continue on to the northern entrance of Guadalupe National Park. Leslie had never been to the Northern Part of the Park. As we got there it started to rain steadily. In two spots in the road to the park, the state had replaced culverts in two dry washs with low water crossings that were so steep we decided we could never get the Wanderer through them. We stopped in the Ranger station and talk with the Volunteer there about the area. He informed us that the two dry washs had experiencec repeated flash floods the previous year that washed out the culverts and the state decided to replace them with the low water crossings. After getting our 21stpark passport stamp, we drove through the Dog Canyon campground and David showed Leslie where he had camped prviously. We then headed back but diverted at the National Stock Road to do some off pavment exploring in the national forest. As we worked our way back into the forest we came across a loop dirt road that looked interesting. Now the Lead Wanderer is a four wheel drive vehicle with good ground clearance and equiped for off road, but being so long and wide, it is not the first choice for offroading. The Lead Wanderer did quite well on the dirt and rock road! We never had to go into four wheel drive but we did do some rock crawling. We rumbed up against some bushes with the wide fender flairs on the back but other than that, the biggest obsticals were the cattle roaming (and lots of cow pies) along the “road”.
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| CCC Built Shelter at Sitting Bull Falls |
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| Sitting Bull Falls |
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| Back falls at Sitting Bull Falls |
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| Leslie Rock Climbing at Sitting Bull Falls |
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| Guadalupe National Park Dog Canyon entrance sign |
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