Arriving at Carlsbad Caverns
It is only 30 miles between Guadalupe Mountains National Park and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The drive takes you across more of the Chihuahuan Desert and once again into The Guadalupe Mountains, which are part of the Capitan Reef, a prehistoric, barrier reef. It is the world’s largest reef and was made by sponges and algaes instead of the typical coral. At the caverns, we completed both of the self-guided tours--Natural Entrance Tour and the Big Room Tour--and the ranger-led King’s Palace Tour. The Natural Entrance Tour has a long, steep descending entrance that showcases the caverns vast size and goes past such formations as Iceberg Rock, a 200,000 ton rock that broke from the ceiling long ago, and the Boneyard, a maze of limestone rock. The mile long Natural Entrance tour is recommended only for people in good physical health because of the 750 foot descent and the steep and narrow trails. In contrast to this, the Big Room tour is mostly wheelchair accessible. The Big Room Tour takes you through an 8.2 acre room that is full of an amazing number and variety of flowstone formations. One would have to go to Borneo to see a larger cave room. The well-marked path meanders around the outside of the Big Room and has a “shortcut” about ½ way around, for wheelchairs or if you’ve seen or walked enough. Along the path you will see formations with names such as: the Bottomless Pit; Giant Dome, a 62 foot tall stalagmite; and Painted Grotto. This mile long trail took us about an hour to complete and was very beautiful. The King’s Palace Tour visits four rooms of which the King’s Palace and Queen’s Chamber are the most elaborate. The Queen’s Chamber is framed at the entrance and exit by formations called draperies that are so delicate and feminine, it is easy to see how this room got its name.
The Natural Entrance
After these three tours we had a really good dinner at the Visitor Center. Johnny ate a green chili chicken quesadilla and I had a pecan crusted tilapia. Both were very tasty and enjoyable. The highlight of our trip, though, was the evening bat flight. From April through October approximately 400,000 Mexican free-tail bats migrate from Mexico to make Carlsbad their home. Each evening these bats exit the cave in a spiral formation, looking like smoke swirling up from a large fire, and head southeast to hunt for their evening dinner. It is quite an amazing sight. Cameras and electronic equipment of any form are not allowed at this event because the electronic power supplies generate audio signals that interfere with the bats’ sonar navigation. It was truly a remarkable way to end our visit at the caverns.
The Amphitheatre at Carlsbad Caverns: Waiting for the Bats to Emerge
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