The Wonders of Carlsbad Caverns National Park

The weather forecast called for crazy high winds in the desert, and we were glad that we were already tucked into our camping spot facing towards the prevailing wind. We also had the perfect activity planned for this day with wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour. We went underground and out of the wind at Carlsbad Caverns National Park.

We were a little confused about the procedure to get a ticket to go into the cavern. The national park web site said that we had to have a ticket reserved through reserveamerica.com before arriving at the national park. So we went on-line and reserved a spot for entry into the cave at 12:00 and paid our $1 reservation fee. But when we arrived at the park, we found there were no lines and they were happy to move us up to an earlier time. Perhaps it is necessary to make that reservation during busier times of the year, but the week after spring break it wasn't busy at all.

At this time of the year, the free tail bats have not yet returned to Carlsbad Caverns. In the summer, this is the amphitheater where visitors can sit and watch the mass exodus of thousands of bats at dusk to begin their nightly bug feeding.

We have chosen the self-guided natural entrance tour, which means that we walked from the visitor center down through the amphitheater and down the switchbacks into the natural opening of the cave.

This is a self-guided tour and will involve a hike of 1.25 miles to get to the "Big Room" where some of the best formations are found.

After about a mile, we started seeing some of the marvelous formations that made Carlsbad Caverns famous.

The new word of the day is "speleothem," and the definition is: a structure formed in a cave by the depositing of minerals by water. We were trying to take pictures of all of these amazing speleothems in the low light of the cavern.

Most people are familiar with terms like stalactite--the formations that grow down from the ceiling like the straws hanging down in the picture below. We also saw stalagmites--formations that grow up from the cave floor. Both stalactites and stalagmites are examples of speleothems!

We should also mention another speleothem--the column. Columns happen when stalactites and stalagmites meet to make a continuous column from ceiling to floor.

No matter what word we use to describe them, all of them are wonders. We have wandered into one of God's most wondrous wonders!

If we saw just one of these speleothems we would be amazed, but we saw thousands of them. We were soon overwhelmed by such wonders!

For visitors not wanting to walk the extra 1.25 mile down an incline equivalent to 79 stories, an easier option is available. A ticket can be reserved that provides an elevator ride straight down those 79 floors, and drops the visitor into the "Big Room." 

This is an amazingly big room. In fact, the walkway around it is more than a mile long. Just like the visitors that took the shorter elevator route, we walked the entire perimeter of the Big Room. It is hard to describe how large and amazing these formations are.

A walkway that divides the Big Room in half allows visitors to shorten their walk in the caverns down to 0.6-miles. No matter what length of trail a visitor takes, it will be packed with some of the most amazing speleothems in the world. Carlsbad Caverns is definitely a must-see national park filled with God's wonders!

We had wanted to do some hiking above ground at Carlsbad Caverns, but we found out that almost all of the trails are closed. We did find this one along the seven-mile road between the entrance of the park and the visitor center. We climbed up the steep trail to a view-point over the winding road and the canyons.

It was such a short hike that Denisa didn't grab the good camera. So when a herd of aoudads were grazing on the hill-side in front of us, we didn't get a good picture. We caught the animals' profile with the cell phone in the blurry picture below.

The yuccas are blooming on the entry road, but we weren't able to drive the scenic loop where most of the trails are located. A flood on August 20, 2022 had 20-foot-deep water flowing over the entrance road. Park staff and 200 visitors were stranded at the visitor center for nine hours before they could be evacuated. That flood caused some damage that is not scheduled to be fixed any time soon. We were disappointed that visitors don't have the option of driving the scenic loop, or hiking any of the trails in that section of the national park.

Likewise, the long list of ranger-led tours into different parts of the cavern have also been closed for years. Covid caused this special cave to be closed for a while. Now only the self-guided tour that we took, and one ranger-led tour is being offered. That one ranger-led tour option is booked up for months.

So we were disappointed with the limited number of things to do at this national park right now. Without the scenic drive and hikes and the ranger-led tours, it was a single stop to visit the self-guided tour of the inside of Carlsbad Caverns. Instead of taking all day, we did everything open to the public in an easy half-day visit. But it would be impossible to be disappointed with the beauty inside the cave. It was a great way to spend part of a very windy day inside, wandering the wonders of one of God's best-decorated caverns.