Go Around the Bend: We’re Going Down… Waaaaay Down… 830 Feet Down!

There are several options for seeing the caves at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, you can take the elevator down from the visitor’s center or walk in from the natural entrance. You can do self-guided walking tours or a ranger-led tour with options ranging from a 1½ hour stroll to 5 hours of walking, climbing, and crawling. And that’s just the main cavern, the park now includes over 46,000 acres and more than 100 other caves. In fact, the Lechuquilla Cave newly discovered in 1986 extends over 112 miles!

Since we had just one day (Friday, 3/10) to visit the Caverns, we decided to maximize the fun! So we walked down from the natural entrance, did the self-guided tour, grabbed a quick bite for lunch, then participated in a 1½ hour Ranger-led tour, and then finished up with the visitor center exhibits and of course, the gift shop. We arrived about 10am and didn’t leave until 4:30pm – and we loved every minute of it!

The only real disappointment is that we visited about a month too early to see the evening bat flight. We did see pictures and video and it looked amazing!! Thousands of Mexican Free-Tailed Bats exit the cave en masse each evening. Visitors can sit in a huge amphitheater near the natural entrance to watch them spiraling out of the cave. Unfortunately for us, the bats were still wintering in Mexico and won’t return until mid/late April. Next time!!!!

Rog walking through the amphitheater - wish we could have seen the bats!

Descending the trail to the natural entrance of the cavern.

I’m going to give you fair warning that I went a little camera crazy. For someone who loves cool rock formations, Carlsbad Caverns is Nirvana. Most caves we’ve visited only allow for staff-led tours, so you get hustled along with the group. This time I got to wander for hours through some of the most incredible surreal formations at my own pace. So it was step, snap a photo, step, snap, snap, step, snap… Rog was sooooo patient. 😊 I took over 250 pictures, but I promise to whittle that down at least a bit for this post. Lol.

We started our exploration at the natural entrance. If you ever get a chance to visit Carlsbad, don’t miss this! You descent 800 feet in about a mile. Although we didn’t get to see the bats, there were cave swallows darting, diving, and swirling around the entrance. Their chirping echoed wildly off the cave walls and it was mesmerizing to watch.

Some of the more distinctive formations are named, but everywhere you look there are fantastical shapes - the wow factor is a little overwhelming. Especially when you start to contemplate the amount of time it took for these intricate and immense creations to form. During our guided tour, the ranger took us through a tunnel that had tiny little stalactites maybe an inch or so long on the ceiling, she called it the nursery. She had us guess how long it took the babies to form - the tunnel had been added in the 1930's, so over 80 years! It made you see the giants that were nearly a 100 feet tall in a whole new perspective.

Looking back toward the mouth of the cave.

Fantastical shapes are everywhere!

Most of the cave is dry, so the formations have stopped growing. This little dude is still getting dripped on.

Layers of stone flowing down the wall.

Lion's Tail.

Draperies - thick waves form when water ran down at an angle from the ceiling.

Very cool pour over from a small opening in the wall.

One of the primary self-guided tours is the must-see one mile route around the “Big Room”. And it is BIG! Covering 8.2 acres, this cavern is absolutely awe inspiring. Filled with a huge variety of formations – stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, draperies, flowstone, columns, lily pads, cave pearls, popcorn and more! Pictures really don’t do it justice; the scale is just mind-bending.

Researcher checking the light spectrum in the Hall of Giants.
They are moving to LED because the old incandescents and florescents were like grow lights for algae.

My favorite formation - looks like an elven forest out of Tolkien's Middle Earth. :)

Temple of the Sun.

Doll's Theater.

Rock of Ages.

Painted Grotto.

Immense and yet delicately intricate.

Sparkly gypsum, up to 15 feet thick in some areas.

Crystal Dome Springs - another formation that is still growing.

In the afternoon, we opted for the Kings Palace guided tour. We descended to the deepest portion of the cavern with paved trails – 830 feet beneath the surface. The Ranger gave us some park history and told stories about the early explorers. It wasn’t until pictures of the cave were published in 1915 that word spread and people starting coming. There were no paved trails or elevators then, the first visitors were lowered 170 feet in a bucket that was once used to haul bat guano out of the cave! Carlsbad Caverns was made a National Monument in 1923, a National Park in 1930, and designated a World Heritage Site in 1955. During the tour, we were also treated to several moments of inky darkness when the Ranger had everyone stow their electronics and then cut the lights. We just don’t get to experience a total absence of light like that, it was kind of creepy in a fun way.