Carlsbad Caverns

Well it finally came time to leave Oklahoma and travel to New Mexico to see what it had to offer to our adventures and to enable us to check off another state off the map.

One of the first things we did was visit Roswell, New Mexico to try and see if we could have a close encounter of the third kind and did. 

A close encounter of the third kind in Roswell, New Mexico.

We only got to spend one day there, so did not get to see everything there was to see, but at least we can say we were there.

Once we got to our destination for the month, we started to explore our surroundings and see what New Mexico had to offer.  One of the first places we visited was Carlsbad Caverns.  We have seen many of caves in our lifetime, especially living in West Virginia, but we were very impressed with these caverns.

Don, Tia, Courtney, Avery, Ethan, Chloe, and Ian at Carlsbad Caverns.

Misty, Tia, Courtney, Avery, Ethan, Chloe, and Ian at Carlsbad Caverns.

We decided to go into the caves through the Natural Entrance rather than riding down on the elevators to the Big Room.  Some will ride the elevator down and then walk or climb out through the Natural Entrance, but we would recommend that you do it the opposite way and let the elevator bring you up the 750 feet when you are done touring the caves.

It is over a mile to walk in through the Natural Entrance to the Big Room and then 1.2 miles to walk all the way from the Big Room through the main caverns back to where the elevators are.  Coming down from the Natural Entrance will work on your leg muscles so by the time you get to the Big Room you may not feel like walking around it, but it is well worth it for the views.

Natural Entrance at Carlsbad Caverns.

Looking down into the Natural Entrance at Carlsbad Caverns.

Looking out of the Natural Entrance at Carlsbad Caverns.

The Natural Entrance path in Carlsbad Caverns.

More of the Natural Entrance at Carlsbad Caverns.

They sell drinks, sandwiches, and snacks out of a snack bar located near the elevators in the Big Room, but they are pretty expensive if you ask us.  They also have a restaurant up in the main building if you do not want to drive out of the park for food.

Just one of the many columns in the caverns.

Since the average temperature in the caverns is 56F you will probably want to bring a light jacket to keep warm.  We had ours, but ended taking them off after a while since we did get a little hot after walking for so long.

Chloe and Misty.

Avery, Ethan, Ian, Tia, and Courtney.

The pictures in the blog do not do the caverns justice or show the volume of pictures we took since it was well over two hundred.  I would have taken more, but my phone died from a low battery.

Holes that formed in a stalactite.

Soda straws that are thin hollow stalactites.

More stalactites and stalagmites.

Another column formed when a stalactite and stalagmite met.

Ribbon stalactites that formed in the caverns.

The below picture is of the three largest stalagmites in the caverns.

Three largest stalagmites in the caverns.

After touring the caverns we stuck around for the flying of the bats which was very interesting.  Unfortunately you can not take any pictures or movies since the electronics mess with the bats when they emerge from the caverns, so no pictures.

While sitting in an amphitheater located at the Natural Entrance to the caverns just before sunset, thousands and thousands of bats will start to swirl out and fly out over the country side to eat for the night.  If you sit still enough they will come within feet of you while flying over your heads.  It was well worth the wait to watch.

The amphitheater just outside of the Natural Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns where the bats come out at night.

So if you are ever near Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, it is well worth the trip to visit it.  It was well worth the six hour round trip we drove to visit it.

We will have more from New Mexico in future blogs like our visits to White Sands National Monument and more.

God bless and may He watch over you and yours!

Thanks!
Don, Misty, and Kids...
 

States we have visited so far.