Carlsbad Caverns NP - The Natural Entrance and the Big Room

I heard about Carlsbad Caverns NP for the first time while checking the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the US. Shortly after that I started planning a road trip to New Mexico (where the park is located). Then the only remaining issue was to get enough holidays to be able to go for this trip. Luckily, both Anil and I decided that we do deserve two weeks off for the honeymoon, and there we were on the road!

Unfortunately, we were visiting Carlsbad Caverns during Memorial Weekend, which meant dealing with big crowds of people everywhere. But as we knew that it was unavoidable, we decided not to let it spoil our time there. We started our visit to the park by going on two self-guided tours on the Natural Entrance and the Big Room routes. It took us around 4h to complete both of these tours even though their total length is only 2.25 miles (3.5 km)... That should give you a good idea on how much time we spent admiring various rock formations and taking pictures of them. It also made me realize how super-patient my husband is, who did not utter a word of complaint during that whole time.

I would strongly recommend renting an audio guide for the tour - we found it very helpful and it also made our experience much better.

The Natural Entrance route is 1¼-mile long and follows the traditional explorer’s route, entering the cavern through the large historic natural entrance. It descends quickly more than 750 feet into the earth:




Here are some of the interesting rock formations that we saw on the way down:










The Natural Entrance route ends where the Big Room route starts. The Big Room route is a one-mile walk around the perimeter of the largest room in the cave (of the size of 6 football fields!), passing through many highly decorated formations. One more beautiful than the other:




























The Big Room can also be reached by the elevator, which is also used to get back to the earth's surface at the end of the trip.

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Practical info: Carlsbad Caverns does not have a campground or lodge, but there are plenty of them in the nearby city located just 2 miles from the entrance to the park.

Carlsbad Caverns NP - Bat Flight Program

As the sun is ready to set, the bats get ready to party. Each evening during the summer, thousands (and at times as many as million) Mexican free-tail bats exit Carlsbad Cavern in search of a smorgasbord of insects for dinner. The visitors to the park can witness this spectacular cave exit during the Bat Flight Program .

Together with around one thousand of other (human) visitors to the park, we waited patiently for around 45 minutes to see the bats emerge from the cavern at the Natural Entrance that we earlier that day used to enter the cave. It was a long wait, but I think it was worth it. As the bats exit the cave they make 7 counterclockwise circles creating upward spiral. Apparently it is always counterclockwise, and always 7 circles... One of those little mysteries of nature.

Unfortunately, we do not have any photos or movies that would document this event as no electronic equipment is allowed during the bat flight program. Nonetheless, if you are ever in the park, make sure to witness it with your own eyes!

On a side note:
As I mentioned before, we were in Carlsbad Caverns on Memorial weekend. Therefore, the park ranger leading the Bat Flight program dedicated that day's bat flight to all veterans and asked if there were any in the audience. I was surprised how many hands were up in the air! I would say that around 5% of people raised their hands then... That's the best demonstration of the US constant involvement in wars!

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Carlsbad Caverns NP - desert

If you are planing to visit a cave, you usually expect to find it in the mountains. At least I do. So it came to me as a big surprise to see that the Carlsbad Caverns are located in the middle of a desert... It is really cool though - finding a comfortably cold refugee in this hot and dry landscape feels very special.

I did not take too many photos of this desert as at that moment our plan was to still go to spend next 6 days in other deserts, like Saguaro NP, Organ Pipes NM, Anza Borrego SP. But I took a picture of this cricket/grasshopper/whatever-it-is as I was amazed how much noise this one small creature can make!


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Carlsbad Caverns NP - Kings Palace

On the second day of our stay at Carlsbad Caverns we went for a ranger-guided tour to the Kings Palace. The park offers six different guided tours, and this was the only one for which we managed to get tickets (damn Memorial Weekend syndrome!) However, the park ranger assured us that this is the most spectacular one of them.

The tour lasted 1.5h during which we walked 1 mile through 4 highly decorated chambers. At one time point the ranger switched off all the light and we were sitting in a complete darkness for a few minutes. No matter how hard you try then, you will see nothing. If you see something, it is your brain playing tricks on you.

Below are a few photos that I took during this tour:






















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