Carlsbad Caverns has 117 caves the longest of which is over 120 miles long. The Big Room is almost 4000 ft. long, and the caves are home to over 400,000 Mexican free-tailed bats and sixteen other species. Above ground are the Chihuahuan Desert and Rattlesnake Springs. Source: Wikipedia
Established: May 14, 1930
Size: 46,766 acres
Rank in Size: 49
# Visitors in 2017: 520,026
(Visited March 2018)- A visit to Carlsbad Caverns National Park was part of our month-long RV trip where we visited a total of 11 National Park sites, including 4 major National Parks. Unlike many of the parks we have visited, this park is much smaller and the focus is on the cave system. While there are protected natural areas above ground, we were there to see the caves. We were looking forward to seeing the ornately, decorated caves that we have heard so much about. We aren’t particularly huge fans of caves, but we are always thrilled to experience God’s great creations. All are worthy of praise!!
We spent a total of 1 1/2 days at Carlsbad Caverns. The first day was spent on a self-guided tour of The Natural Entrance and The Big Room. Since we also like to hike in the parks, The Natural Entrance was an obvious choice for us. We were also not keen on waiting in line for the elevator and fighting the crowds. Unlike the remoteness and lack of people at Guadalupe Peak and Big Bend National Parks, Carlsbad Caverns felt a little like being at Disneyland. We braved it out nonetheless and focused on the natural beauty and the amazing processes that created these amazing features.
The Natural Entrance was impressive to say the least. The entrance is very open and very large with a steep, paved path leading down into the cave. The trail is 1.25 miles long and descends about 750 ft below ground. We walked the trail down and back up after spending several hours in The Big Room. We took a lunch break in the large concession area, complete with bathrooms, a snack counter, and merchandise stand (of course!). I was shocked at the size and sophistication of this underground facility.
On the first full day in the caves, we spent several hours wandering around The Big Room. We were delighted that we were able to take our camera tripods and even though we had to wait for people to pass at times, we were able to set up our tripods along the way and get some nice photographs. The low lighting, of course, still made it challenging and even though I was shooting on a tripod, I still used a moderate ISO (800) and bracketed my shots which I later blended in Lightroom. The decorated walls and ceilings of the cave changed around every bend, so naturally, we were down below for quite awhile.
The next day, we took a 2-hr Ranger-led tour of Kings Palace. After spending all day in the cave the day before, we weren’t really sure we needed to go back in, but we had pre-purchased the tickets so we went…… and we were so glad we did! Kings Palace was even more highly decorated than The Big Room! For this tour, we could not take our tripods and I really noticed the difference in the quality of the photos. I hand-held and bracketed at high ISO (12800), but when I tried to blend them in Lightroom, I got some strange light artifacts (purple haze) which I attributed to blending high ISO images. Great learning!! Anyway, I went back and selected the best single shot in each series and did my best to balance the highlights and shadows. These images, while not my favorite technically, are included to show the fantastic formations in this part of the cave. A highlight of this tour was sitting in a large room and having the ranger turn off all the lights. We experienced total darkness for about 10 minutes. The ranger actually sang a beautiful song for us in the dark. It was really moving and a bit unsettling after awhile.
We really enjoyed our visit to Carlsbad Caverns despite the crowds. Every national park is so different and it is this difference and the experience we have in each that we cherish so much!