By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYANOf The Associated Press

CARLSBAD CAVERNS NATIONAL PARK, N.M. (AP) — One by one, the tourists’ head-lamps grow dim and disappear as they venture farther into a fracture in the limestone, deep beneath the surface of southern New Mexico’s scrubby desert.

They shimmy through a nar-row cave passage, ducking to keep their helmets from scraping tiny crystals overhead as they leave behind a huge subter-ranean chamber filled with towering columns of calcite and otherworldly formations that have captivated explorers and sci-entists for more than a century.

This is exactly what the novice cavers signed up for — a per-sonal tour of the underground backcountry of one of the most famous — and unique — cave systems in the world, Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

For less adventurous visitors, there are paved paths, hand rails and lights in other parts of the caverns. But here, more than 800 feet down, the beauty that nature spent eons perfecting is intertwined with the challenges of negotiating slippery flow stone and squeezing from one chamber to the next through slots with names such as “The Florida Key.”

For ranger Mark Joop and his group of 12 amateur cavers, the excitement comes from anticipat-ing what’s around the next bend in a portion of the park called Lower Cave.

“Caves are like the unknown,” Joop says. “Since I can’t go to the moon and explore other planets, this is the last unknown realm on the planet. We’ve gone to the

highest peaks and everything, but there’s so much yet to be found and explored here under-ground.”

More than 400,000 people visit Carlsbad Caverns each year to get a glimpse of the monumen-tal stalagmites and stalactites, delicate soda straws, translucent draperies and reflective pools that decorate the park’s main attraction, the Big Room. But only a fraction of visitors get a chance to experience the more extreme tour through Lower Cave or a lantern-lit history les-son in Left Hand Tunnel.

And because of limited reser-vations for “off-trail” tours, even fewer people get to crawl through the Hall of the White Giant and Spider Cave, which are the most difficult — and quickly booked — of the ranger-guided caving tours.

Joop finds a spot along the narrow passage in Lower Cave where everyone can gather around.

Crammed shoulder to shoulder with their headlamps blinding one another, he makes a sugges-tion: Turn off your lamps, your cameras and anything else that might glow.

In a few seconds, darkness takes on a whole new meaning.

“Try waving your hand in front of your face,” he says. “Some people claim they can see their hand moving, but that’s just your brain freaking out, thinking that it can actually see some-thing. It’s just too dark.”

Aside from the absolute black-ness, the silence inside the pas-sage is stifling. Everyone holds their breath to see just how quiet it is. There’s no dripping water,

no breeze, no crickets, nothing.Actually, though, crickets have

found a way to survive quietly deep inside the caverns. Rangers point them out along with horse-hair worms in the drip pools when a scanning headlamp spots one of the elusive creatures.

There are also the mummified remains of a not-so-lucky bat along the trail and another whose tiny body was entombed in a sta-lagmite as it formed eons ago.

Carlsbad Caverns’ discovery was something of an accident. As the story goes, teenage cowhand Jim White was mending fences just before sunset and saw what looked like a plume of smoke ris-ing in the distance. When he got closer, he realized it was a cloud of bats pouring from the mouth of the cave for their nightly din-ner run. That was around 1898.

Over the next few years, White spent much of his time under-ground, exploring with an oil lamp fashioned from a coffee pot and homemade ladders made from fence wire and wood.

Photographs of the caverns eventually made their way into The New York Times. The federal government’s General Land Office mapped the underground wonderland and the National Geographic Society followed with an expedition that put the place on the map in 1924. In 1930, Congress designated Carlsbad Caverns a national park and it later became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For those not up to hiking the steep paved path that winds down from the cave’s natural entrance, a high-speed elevator zips down the 75 stories in less than a min-ute. Long before the elevator and

paved walkway, cave visitors rode in huge buckets on a rope and pulley system erected by workers who mined guano (bat droppings) for use as fertilizer.

The fascination with Carlsbad Caverns comes partly from the way it was formed, a process responsible for just 5 percent of the world’s caves. It started some 250 million years ago with the creation of a reef formed from the remains of sea sponges and other creatures. Then came evaporation, erosion and uplift. Rainwater seeped down while hydrogen sulfide-rich water migrated upward from the vast oil and natural gas deposits below. The resulting sulfuric acid ate away the limestone, forming the massive chambers that visi-tors see today.

The decorations formed drop by drop over 500,000 years as calcite-rich water found its way from the surface.

Rangers like to point out the “cave popcorn” covering the walls, soda straws hanging in small alcoves and “cave bacon,” a wavy formation that reveals muted ribbons of color when lit from behind by a flashlight.

“Can you imagine finding that big room for the first time? Coming into that gigantic, dark, open void and then seeing all of these formations? Ah, it would have been a thrill of a lifetime, like you discovered paradise

underground,” Joop says.With his leather gloves and

cinched helmet, Joop was the picture of an old hand at under-ground exploration. The rest of his group, not so much. They fid-dled with batteries for their head-lamps and rummaged through

their packs for gloves. Once the rustling stopped, Joop pulled out a knotted rope and held it up.

“This is caving 101,” he said. “There are ropes, three flights of ladders, slippery surfaces and narrow passages. Does any of this scare anybody?”

By LYNN DOMBEKOf The Associated Press

The solitude, quiet and frozen cold of a winter landscape are great rea-sons to head outdoors in January and February.

You can snowshoe, ski, trek or go sledding. Sleep overnight in a tent, lean-to, yurt or cabin. Tree branches may snap, and lake ice may groan as it freezes and buckles. Or maybe the only sound you’ll hear is the gentle shoosh, shoosh, shoosh of your snowshoes in powder.

But the backcountry in win-ter can also be a challenging landscape to stay safe in, and if things go wrong, they can go wrong fast. That may sound scary, but as long as you’re pre-pared, you might be surprised by how satisfying and exhilarat-ing it can be to slow down and closely observe the environment and your place in it.

Here are a few tips on safely enjoying backcountry activities in the winter.

PLANNINGI’ve done most of my winter

trekking and camping in New England, already a remote and beautiful place, but doubly so when the temperatures dip well below zero and snow covers the landscape.

My first overnight excur-sions were snowshoe trips with experienced winter campers into a remote log cabin in Maine. Going with someone knowledgeable about winter trekking is critically important when you’re a novice. They can help with your gear list, plan a reasonably distanced overnight or day excursion, and give you practical tips and guidance along the way.

Preparation is your most important step. Winter trek-king is perfectly suited to the neurotic personality because the creation of lists and piles of stuff is key: clothing, gear, food, routes, contacts — it seems to never end. And once out in the frozen deep, the methodical mind is forced to slow down to survey, assess and physically get through the landscape.

Outdoor clubs are a good resource for the novice and experienced hiker alike. They have loads of free information on their websites, and for small membership fees typically offer discounts on backcountry lodg-ing, sponsored trips, classes, maps, and gear.

The Appalachian Mountain Club and The Mountaineers cover the East and West coasts

respectively. Both have primers and resources useful in any cold climate, and links to other national and international out-door groups.

Most U.S. state parks and the National Park Service websites are full of tips, lists and trip ideas for any season. And if you go in the winter, you’ll encoun-ter many fewer visitors than summertime.

For instance, Yellowstone National Park saw over a mil-lion visitors in July 2010, but in January just 61,100 made the trek. Of those, only 97 were backcountry campers.

Al Nash, public affairs officer at Yellowstone, characterized winter weather in Yellowstone as “mild, or really challeng-ing.” When we spoke in mid-December, it was a balmy 11 degrees and sunny there, which Nash found delightful. He was exuberant about the park in winter, but also cautious. “We encourage people to expand their comfort zone, but do it in steps.”

Nash went on to say that “if you’ve never gone winter camp-ing before, find a way to ease

into it. Don’t make the first time in Yellowstone; make the first time in your backyard, or at a spot you can get out of easily and back to your house or a warm hotel.”

GETTING DRESSEDMaine’s Baxter State Park

has over 200,000 acres of wilder-ness for recreation year-round. The park’s chief ranger, Ben Woodard, says “winter magni-fies the mistakes a novice trek-ker may make. There is a con-stant heat challenge traveling in the backcountry. The balance is to stay warm, dry and well-fed and hydrated when you travel.”

Getting dressed for winter activities is all about layers. Put them on and take them off to regulate your body tem-perature. It may not produce the most flattering look, but you’ll be happier (and safer!) if you do it right. Generally you should employ the three-layer system: base, insulating, and shell.

The base layer is typically a synthetic because the mate-rial absorbs little water, wicks moisture away from your skin

and dries quickly. Silk is a good non-petroleum based alterna-tive, and there’s also wool. Steer clear of cotton; it may feel cozy next to your skin but it absorbs water and dries slowly, a sure recipe for hypothermia .

Wool or fleece are good choices for an insulating layer because they keep you warm and dry out easily. Goose down can be used if you’ll be in extreme cold, but unless you keep it dry, it won’t keep you warm. Carry a goose-down parka with you that you can pull on during rest stops or at night in camp. It’s light, com-presses into a small ball, and keeps you toasty warm.

Your shell layer protects against wind, snow or rain. As with every other piece of gear, you can get a shell in many dif-ferent flavors: windproof, water-resistant, breathable, non-breathable, and soft. Choose the one best for your activity and weather conditions.

One of the most important reasons to dress in layers is to manage perspiration. Most syn-thetics will wick moisture away from your skin, but once you stop moving around, any mois-

ture at all is going to make you cold. And once you get cold, it’s harder to warm up; hypother-mia can become a real danger.

DISTANCEWoodard, the Baxter ranger,

says the more snow they have, “the slower life in the park becomes. It takes longer to travel in deep snow, longer to do chores or work assignments because you’re balancing” the challenges of the environment.

Generally, winter travel takes longer than treks in other sea-sons. Plan on covering just a third of the ground you normal-ly would in non-winter condi-tions. If there’s snow, it simply takes longer to plow through it, and you’ll spend more time just finding the trail.

The gear you’ll need depends on the activity you’ve chosen and how long you’ll be out. Woodard notes that “for experi-enced winter travelers, skis and snowshoes make travel rela-tively easy. But for someone who hasn’t used them, the person will fall more, getting wet from the snow and the exertion.”

So start slowly. Short day

hikes under a mile can still be incredibly satisfying. “The snow muffles the sounds in the mountains and woods,” Woodard says. “Many times wildlife can be spotted easier if they don’t have the option of white camouflage. We have visitors who enjoy day trips in the fringes of the park as well as multi-day visitors who want to traverse the park, climb a mountain or visit their favorite location.”

In addition to Baxter State Park, Maine has miles of log-ging roads that are unplowed in winter, perfect for snowshoeing or cross-country skiing (if you don’t mind sharing with the occasional snowmobilers!).

The roads also make it easier to pull a sled, instead of hauling all your gear in a backpack. An expedition sled, or pulk, can run upward of $600, but you can easily build your own using a heavyweight plastic sled, small PVC piping and some rope.

So never mind the drudgery of winter at home. Drop that snow shovel and get out to the backcountry. You’ll be glad you did.

Associated Press/DONNA LAWLOR

Associated Press staffer Lynn Dombek is shown as she pauses while snowshoeing up a hill on snow-covered logging roads in Hancock County, Maine. The solitude, quiet and frozen cold of a winter landscape are great reasons to head outdoors in January and February. You can snowshoe, ski, trek or go sledding.

Baby steps to wintry backwoodsIF YOU GO:

■ APPALACHIAN MOUNTAIN CLUB: Snow Sport Resources, www.out-doors.org/recreation/snow/index.cfm

■ THE MOUNTAINEERS: www.mountaineers.org

■ NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: http://bit.ly/gVzfqq

■ PRINCETON UNIVERSITY OUTDOOR ACTION PROGRAM TIPS: Guide to winter camping, http://bit.ly/eulq3Z

■ BAXTER STATE PARK: Winter use information includes safety tips, gear and clothing checklists. www.bax-terstateparkauthority.com/pdf/BaxterStateParkWinterUse.pdf. Gear recommendations include pack boots with wool liners, high-reaching gaiters, snowshoes or heavy-duty touring skis, insulating mit-tens, mitten shells, thin wick-ing sock liners, insulating socks, insulating balaclava that covers head, wicking innerwear, insulating jacket or sweater, insulating pants, light wind/rain shell, sunscreen, lip balm, trekking poles, snow goggles, fire-starting material including waterproof matches (butane lighters can fail in cold), axe, compass.

Carlsbad Caverns offers Caving 101 IF YOU GO:CARLSBAD CAVERNS: www.nps.gov/cave/. Click on “Fees

and Reservations” to see options for ranger-guided tours. Many guided tours sell out, so reserve well in advance. Guided tour fees, $7-$20; admission for self-guided tours, $6. Located in New Mexico 300 miles from Albuquerque and 150 miles from El Paso, Texas. Open daily year-round. Through May 27, last cavern entry, 2 p.m. via cavern entrance, 3:30 p.m. via elevator.

TRAVELSUNDAY JANUARY 9 2011 ✩✩✩ PAGE G-5

By ROGER WINGELAAROf The Oakland Press

Think of a western holiday that started out as a sacred religious festival and then migrated into a national festival featuring shopping, gift giving and house lighting.

Then throw in another holiday where Americans shoot off a lot of fireworks.

Put the two together in India, and you have Diwali.

It is called the Festival of Lights, and the original lights were — and still are — 3-inch clay lamps with a simple wick with oil as fuel. The lamps are placed in windows, on garden walls, and in the entryway of homes. But use of elec-tric lights that we tend to favor for Christmas decorations are becoming more widespread.

People also decorate the floors of the entry-ways and the sidewalks in front of their homes with colorful sand paintings.

Diwali is a religious festival in Hinduism, Sikhism, and Jainism, but as with many fes-tivals in India, almost everyone joins in the fun.

Diwali is sup-posed to be a lucky time, so many people gamble. And many take it quite seriously and play cards all night long. Some of the games I watched while visiting Diwali during the Festival of Lights were for more money than I care to put on the table.

People can stay up all night because it is a school holiday, and for many a work holiday.

But perhaps the most pronounced thing about Diwali is the fireworks. They are loud, wide-spread and inescapable.

Our first night of the festival, the explosions started in the evening and went all night. We had difficulty sleeping because of the noise.

The fireworks go from “crackers” — the small ladyfingers we get here on the Fourth — all the way up to commercial-grade aerial displays. The big and the small are being shot off by individu-als, not by cities or civil groups. They are explod-ing from backyards and in the middle of busy streets. Wary drivers dodge the flying fireballs and hope nothing explodes directly under their vehicles.

I have never seen such widespread fireworks in our American Fourth, and the fathers and sons shooting them off were not hindered by any legal restrictions or safety concerns. Some of the “bombs” they set off were strong enough

that I felt the shock wave on the other side of the street.

This last Diwali coincided with President Obama’s visit to India. He stayed in Mumbai, one of the most populous cities. I wondered at the time how his security team handled that con-stant stream of explosions.

Diwali is also the time when many people go shopping and give gifts.

This makes the already crowded bazaars a memorable experience if you can handle close contact. Expect crowds that are so packed that individual movement is not possible, you simply go where the mass of shoppers takes you.

When my wife and I booked our flights, we had no idea how big of a holiday Diwali is. We soon found out — every seat on the plane was full, and many of the American-Indian families were traveling with children. This must be fairly dif-ficult to arrange because American schools are not on holiday at this time.

We soon came to appreciate the attraction. It is amazing just to walk around at night with fire-works all around and so many houses decorated with lights.

When is it?The festival lasts for five days and the dates

change — but it is roughly sometime between mid October and mid November. In 2010 it began on Friday, Nov. 5 and went to Tuesday, Nov. 9. In 2011 it begins on Wednesday, Oct. 26 and ends on Sunday, Oct. 30.

This coincides with the end of the rainy season and the beginning of cooler weather. In central India, expect daytime temperatures in the 80s. However, this last year was unusual and we experienced warmer weather, some rain and higher humidity.

Foliage is lush and green after the monsoon, but at this time the sun shines most days, all of which is very welcome coming from Michigan just as the last leaves fall and the temperatures drop. It feels like an antidote for seasonal affec-tive disorder.

Getting thereI like visiting India, but it is difficult to get

there. This time, we flew from Detroit to Washington

and then took Qatar Airlines (which partners with United, so the miles go on your United account).

The Qatar flight from Washington to Doha (the Qatar hub) takes 17-18 hours — which is a long time to sit and is best endured by sleeping or watching endless movies on the personal monitors facing every seat. I recommend sleep-ing pills.

The final leg from Doha to Mumbai is three hours.

As we travel to central India, we take a domes-tic flight from Mumbai to Nagpur, which is only an hour, but the connections between the interna-tional and domestic always seem to result in long layovers in Mumbai.

This last layover for us was 12 hours, so we found a local hotel and grabbed a shower and eight hours of sleep — much better than hanging out in the airport and the cost, including break-fast and pickup from and delivery to the airport, was around $80. This was an Indian businessman hotel, so there were few frills, but it was clean

and comfortable. Western-style tourist hotels near the Mumbai airports offer plush rooms, upscale restaurants and bars — and go for about $200-$250 a night.

Watch out when you check in at the domes-tic airlines. They tried to charge us for excess baggage weight. Keep in mind that if you have arrived within 24 hours from an international flight, they allow heavier luggage.

If you plan to go for Diwali, keep in mind that this is a major festival. Book all your flights well in advance. And be sure of your hotel reserva-tions.

Wary drivers dodge the flying

fireballs and hope nothing explodes

directly under their vehicles.

Have a blast at India’s Diwali

The Oakland Press/ROGER WINGELAAR

Many Indians celebrate Diwali by creating elaborate and colorful sand paintings near the entrances of their homes, like the one pictured above.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: A goat

takes advantage of India’s abundant greenery. Hindu

priests conduct a cer-emony inside an

Indian home during Diwali. The view from

the passenger seat inside an autorick-

shaw taxi. Shopping for gifts —including

jewelry — is a Diwali tradition.

SUNDAY JANUARY 9 2011