Posts Tagged With: Carlsbad Cavern National Park

Carlsbad Caverns. One of the largest caves in the United States, Carlsbad has been a National Park Service site since 1923 when it was designated a national monument. It became a national park in 1930. Caves are usually ranked by number of miles of caverns. Carlsbad is 15th with 39 miles. In the U.S., the top four are Mammoth Cave with 420 miles, Jewel Cave with 208 miles, Wind Cave with 154 miles, and Lechuguilla Cave with 150 miles. Lechuguilla is actually located on Carlsbad National Park property. . In 1986, cave explorers received permission to explore another area on Carlsbad Park property where they discovered what is now known as Lechugilla Cave. Lechuguilla is off limits to the public as scientists use it for research. Chris and I have been to Mammoth, Jewel and Wind Cave previously.

Carlsbad is best known for the Big Room, the largest chamber in North America, and for an evening bat flight from early spring through October where gigantic swarms leave the cave seeking food. So we missed the bat flight but saw the Big Room. Well, actually saw some of it. The cave is very humid, masks are required, and Chris had difficulty with her glasses fogging up frequently. Her viewing of the cave suffered because of that.

With Covid-19, ranger led tours are no longer offered. Instead visitors sign up for a limited time entry block and undertake a self-guided tour. Frnakly, I was just as happy with that. Tours at other caves frequently try to get cutesy and assign descriptive names to formations that vaguely, at best, resemble the name the formation has been assigned. With this method, you go at your own pace. I don’t know what constitutes normal visitation numbers but we had no difficulty getting around without being blocked or slowed down by other visitors.

The paths are smooth, no stairs and almost no areas in which one has to duck their head or squeeze through a narrow opening. Railings line the entire route and the low lighting is more than adequate to observe various formations. The first third and last third of the route are more interesting. The middle third is relatively humdrum.

Before Carlsbad was made a national monument, and even after, mining of bat guano and the taking of souvenirs destroyed numerous formations. However, there are still a vast number of formations to view. Stalagmites, stalactites, soda straws, draperies, flowstone, columns, popcorn, and others amaze your eyes.

Past pictures taken in caves never seem to properly portray the dimension of the experience. We have inserted a few photos just because.

Carlsbad was pretty much a full day for us. The drive from Roswell was two hours, we spent 90 minutes exploring the cave, and additional time with the park video and displays. After lunch at a picnic table in the parking lot, we explored a portion of the wilderness area that is part of the park. The 9.5 mile scenic drive takes you past canyons, rock formations, and desert foliage. Chris spotted several mule deer on the scenic drive and we stopped to watch them for a while. She had spotted Barbary sheep on the drive in to the park but the narrow road did not allow for any photo opportunities.

Ed and Chris, Carlsbad New Mexico, Wednesday Nov. 17.