Carlsbad Caverns

We had been to Carlsbad Caverns on a previous trip to visit Gary's Nephew who was

scheduled to ship out of San Diego on a Navy Ship.  It is definitely worth a 2nd trip.  I think this is one of the nicest caves because there is so much you can tour on your own with no additional charge other than the Park entry fee.   The natural entrance is 1.25 miles long and descends 800 feet.

It leads into the Big Room which is a 1.25 mile paved loop.  It is 8.2 acres and full of  natural formations of stalagmite and stalactites, pools of water, drapes and more.

Lions Tails 

Column 

Some tight squeezes 

Besides the free tours we opted for 2 of the guided tours as well.  The first was a lantern tour

of the Left Hand Tunnel (it had my name written all over it).  The only light was from the candle-lit

lanterns we carried and at one point we extinguished them all and were in total darkness.

The Bacon hanging from the ceiling 

The other tour was the King's Palace Tour which consisted of 4 highly decorated chambers.  The Kings Palace, Papoose Room, Queens Chamber and Green Lake Room. 

Green Lake 

Draperies in Queens Chamber 

I saw a pack of howling wolves in this formation - do you? 

You just can't capture the immensity of these caves on film.

A tunnel that was blasted through to one of the Caverns 79 years ago is a wet cave and stalactites are forming.  This will give you an idea just how long the formations took to develop.  These are 79 years old! 

We would have liked to have taken one of the smaller guided tours that involved wearing knee pads and helmets with headlamps but they are reserved in advance.

Well we've seen whats under our world - next see what's out of this world at Roswell!