Cave Park Ranger lights

Visited Carlsbad Caverns last week. Talked with two Park Rangers. One carried a stock 3d Mag. The other a 2x123 1led Brinkmann. Neither one was interested in discussing their choice of lights.

If you've not visited Carlsbad Caverns, please try to do so. Words can't describe it.

Ahh Yes—Another "must see" places that is on my list. Maybe should be bringing the lights that are featured in the 2006 SureFire catalog?

BIGIRON said:

Neither one was interested in discussing their choice of lights.

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That's odd. You'd think that they'd be more interested since they work in the dark everyday. Maybe they've become complacent or have never had a light fail. Some people just never think "what if" when it comes to being prepared.

-LT

they probably just feel it's part of "their" job and us non-caveworkers could never know LOL

In the cave itself, the most likely put on headlamps

Kinda what I thought. 'Course when you hear as many questions as they do over a days time, discussing their flashlights with an "outsider" was probably not high on their list of fun things.

One thing that bothered me on this trip was the attitude (I perceived) of the park staff, not only at Carlsbad, but Lincoln NF (closed because of fire danger) and Guadalupe Mts NP that "...it's my park and you, the citizen, are the outsider and are not worthy and are surely here to damage my park...." .

On the other hand, the state parks people in both New Mexico and Texas worked hard to smile and be helpful. And the NP folks at White Sands.

Again, just my perception.

BIGIRON said:

Visited Carlsbad Caverns last week. Talked with two Park Rangers. One carried a stock 3d Mag. The other a 2x123 1led Brinkmann. Neither one was interested in discussing their choice of lights.

If you've not visited Carlsbad Caverns, please try to do so. Words can't describe it.

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One question... are you sure the Brinkman was an LED light? The only one I know about that uses 2 x 123's is the Maxfire that's incand. I think they do have a new 3AAA LED out now that looks to be about the same size as the Maxfire.

Nope, no headlamps in the public portion of the cavern. The only headlamps/hardhats I saw was with a small group of cavers who had made reservations for special access to a non-public area of the cave.

I had a Peak 3led/1aaa in hand as we walked the public trails. Helped a lot in a few dark spots with steps, etc (I have low vision so it was a pretty difficult walk - a very low light level is maintained with special features well lit --the lighting is very well planned). Many other tourists were surprised and remarked "how smart it was to bring a flashlight...". Ironic. These folks had, for about a 3 mile walk, several bottles of water, trail mix, jackets and hats (gets mighty cold in them caves, ya know!!) (like 63degrees) but had never considered the possible need for a light. But at least they were there doing it.

C4 - yes, pretty sure. It was a certainly a 1 led and I'm pretty sure a 2x123. I have an incan almost exactly like it -- silver color, fairly large bezel, a kind of scalloped rubber wrap grip and a clickie that takes Godzilla to operate. They were fairly common at WalMart, etc, about a year ago. Actually a pretty good useing light.

That specific light is not available to me right now. Could it be a Garrity? Pretty sure it's one of the two.

Lunal_Tic said:

That's odd. You'd think that they'd be more interested since they work in the dark everyday. Maybe they've become complacent or have never had a light fail. Some people just never think "what if" when it comes to being prepared.

-LT

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You'd think. Maybe if someone from CPF showed them a "real" flashlight, they'd be more interested. Something small like a FF.

I visited Mammoth Caverns last fall, same here...only both rangers had 3D mags..

I brought my INOVA XO and got dirty looks...lol

You would wonder. even with cave lightning, that they bring a lighter and or brighter lamp than a regular 3D mag as if they brought them like batons...


Pretty soon I found out that talking with someone having a strong country accent just isnt taking me anywhere... especially when they percieve Mags as having "powerful lightin d'ool" and "can lit up that ol' tree down yonder" etc.

next time Im going up there with a SL PP 4AA Lux and probably sell it to them...

I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE, SEEING UNELIGHTENED FOLKS WALK AROUND WITH STOCK MAGS!

C4- yes, the light I'm referring to is a Brinkmann.

Hmmm... I'm wondering what the rangers would have said if you had turned up with a Mag modded 10W HID? :laughing:

Are there any regulations as to visitors bringing their own flashlights?

The silver brinkman 2x123, xenon with rubber scalloped grips is the Brinkman Legend LX, precurse to the maxfire, I have an original one when they first came out, great light.

I bought a few flashlights with me when I last toured Carlsbad in October of 2005. No big deal when I shined my Pelican M6 3W around as well as ... whatever else I had with me at the time (can't remember). It would have been interesting to wave around some more powerful lights (like the 3x Luxeon 3 mod I now have), but the cave is adequately lit while preserving the general darkness of a cave.

The lighting system there is quite intricate and also quite reliable with generators on the surface and battery-powered emergency lights within the cave.

dude i HAVE to go to carlsbad caves, thats freaking cool. Im going to bring my MAG623R-4D hey rangers, this is what a REAL light looks like! 140W of luminescent power is something to behold im telling you now. I can cream street legal high beams with my bad boy, they will see what looks like a regular 4d maglight (i doubt they would even notice the medium stippled reflector) and then BOOM! killed with light!

In the past they have offered limited visits to some of the caves not generally open to the public. You have to sign up for the visits, hike to the entrance to the cave, and CARRY YOUR OWN LIGHTS! If they still do this, it is one my list of things to do sometime in the future.

gregw said:

Hmmm... I'm wondering what the rangers would have said if you had turned up with a Mag modded 10W HID? :laughing:

Are there any regulations as to visitors bringing their own flashlights?

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Not that I know of, other than no specimen collecting tools, picks etc...
personal Lights are not regulated, but free to bring on person, the pathways are florescent lit, turning on and off in remotely controlled areas...

I brought 2 EDCs... my XO and a Minimag with Nite-ize 3LED head

The giftshop sold the cute red hard hats with headlamps and the family with 2 youngsters infront of me brought them, not in any means considered to be practical lite, but looked cute on the kids...

I saw no signs prohibiting personal lights. A ranger saw me use my Peak aaa several times and said nothing. I did have my telescoping hiking staff (trekking pole or as my grandma would say "pokin' stick") and he told me that walking/hiking sticks were prohibited because of potential damage. He didn't push the issue since we were well into the trail and I obviously had a legitimate need for it.

Not too hard to imagine some crazy kid playing pinata with a stalagtite.

I think the NiteIze would be just about perfect. Couple of places, we wanted to see better in some small nooks and crannys than the Peak provided but anything much more powerful would have really compromised adapted vision. Wife's TT1L worked OK in that situation

A few years back I worked as a tour guide in a small cave tour operation, and we used hardware store variety 12v battery lights. Mind you, there was lighting strung through the cave. We used them more like pointers to highlight features on the tour, and at one point where we turned off the lights so people could experience pure darkness. In our defense, we did sell Petzl headlamps at the souvenir booth, but if I worked there now, I'd carry something more serious. On the day of that big blackout that affected all of the northeast of North America a few years back, I was underground with a group of 30 grade 1 kids, and it was adorable how well they handled shuffling though the cave by the light of the one flashlight.