New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns

When you are in New Mexico a trip to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a must so you can explore the fascinating Carlsbad Caverns. The Carlsbad Caverns are the most famous caves in the world.  They are a true wonder.  There are many cave tours available.  You can visit the Big Room or you can crawl through passages in the Hall of the White Giant or Spider Cave.  You can also see the Mexican free-tailed bats leave the Carlsbad Cavern at dusk in the summer.  This is a wondrous sight and one you will never forget. The bat exodus from the cave is awesome.

It is believed the park has about 110 caves that are beneath the surface of the Guadalupe Mountains.  The caves were formed over 4 million years ago on the Capitan Reef.  The Carlsbad Cavern is the most popular cave.  Visitors can take self-guided tours or ranger-led tours.  The ranger-led tours are fabulous.  The self guided tours are also good.

You might want to start exploring Carlsbad Cavern by taking a self-guided tour.  There are two self-guided tours available.  You can take a 1 ½ hour ranger guided tour of Kings Palace, Hall of the White Giant, Lower Cave, Spider Cave and Slaughter Canyon Cave.  Some of the tours have very steep climbs.  You can take in the Bat Flight Program that is held every evening from May through October. This is an unbelievable experience.

The Carlsbad National Park has over 85 well known caves.  Lechuguilla Cave is the countries deepest limestone cave.  It is 1561 feet deep.  The entrance to Carlsbad Cavern is on the south side of Walnut Canyon.

At the visitor complex you will find a lot of parking.  There is a museum, book store, auditorium and café.  There are also elevators that will take you to the caverns below.

If you take the Big Room tour you will go down 754 feet in 1 minute in an elevator that is located in the visitor’s center.  You will stop at a rest-area and lunchroom.  You will take a short walk to the main cave area.  The Big Room is 3,800 feet long and 600 feet wide.  The 1 ¼ mile path follows a circular route down one side of the chambers and back along the other side.  It is a very interesting tour.  On your tour you will see stalagmites and stalactites.  The surroundings are beautiful and will take your breath away.

The Kings Palace has 4 separate chambers.  They are accessed from the cave near the elevator.  This is the deepest part of Carlsbad Cavern that is open to visitors.  In one section it goes down 830 feet.  You can take a 90 minute ranger-led tour to visit this area.

You can also visit Left Hand Tunnel which is a passageway that is lit by lanterns.  You will see fossils, cave pools and fragile speleotherme.  The tour will last 2 hours. This will be time well spent.  You can also take the Lower Cave and the Hall of the White Giant tours.

Your trip to Carlsbad Caverns is an experience you will never forget.

Article sources:

http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/carlsbad_caverns/ntional_park.html

http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/carlsbad/activities.html