Today was our big day to tour Carlsbad Caverns. The picture on the left is the anphitheatre at the "natural" entrance to the cave. This is also where people gather in the evening to watch the bats exit the cave.
The natural entrance looks pretty large when approaching it, then, when you begin your descent down a series of "switchbacks", it naturally gets smaller and smaller. Only then do you realize just how deep you have descended into the cave which is a very eerie feeling. Even more eerie when you can no longer see daylight. No turning back now! This portion of the walk is self-guided and all downhill of course. You can stop along the way and spend as much time as you want. There are also places along the way where you can sit and rest a bit. Once at the bottom, we had walked 1.25 miles and were 750 feet below the surface of the earth.
The view along the switchbacks was, of course, amazing. Most of the pictures I took on my phone didn't come out too good but George got some incredible photos on his new Canon. There was a snack bar at the bottom and we had about 45 minutes to eat before our guided tour began. We were really hungry by this time so we grabed sandwiches and Gatorade to sustain us through the guided tour.
Next was the guided tour through the King's Palace. This was some of the most unbelieveable beauty of the cave. The Park Ranger did a great job in her story-telling and history of the cave. At one point, she turned off the lights and we were in total blackness...another very eerie feeling. This tour was 1 mile long and another 80 feet below the self-guided tour so we have now walked 2.25 miles and were 830 feet below the surface of the earth, which is the deepest part of the cave.
After this tour, we end up back at the 750 feet mark and walked through The Big Room which is a 1.25 mile walk but is relatively flat. This is literally a very big room featuring the Lion's Tail, Hall of Giants, Bottomless Pitt (which is really 144 feet deep) and Rock of Ages. We were chased out at 3:30 which is the last elevator out of here and we sure didn't want to miss that! All in all, a really great day. I would say that it is moderately strenuous and would recommend this stop to anyone. We walked a total of 3.25 miles and were 830 feet below ground.
The natural entrance looks pretty large when approaching it, then, when you begin your descent down a series of "switchbacks", it naturally gets smaller and smaller. Only then do you realize just how deep you have descended into the cave which is a very eerie feeling. Even more eerie when you can no longer see daylight. No turning back now! This portion of the walk is self-guided and all downhill of course. You can stop along the way and spend as much time as you want. There are also places along the way where you can sit and rest a bit. Once at the bottom, we had walked 1.25 miles and were 750 feet below the surface of the earth.
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| Natural entrance to Carlsbad Caverns |
The view along the switchbacks was, of course, amazing. Most of the pictures I took on my phone didn't come out too good but George got some incredible photos on his new Canon. There was a snack bar at the bottom and we had about 45 minutes to eat before our guided tour began. We were really hungry by this time so we grabed sandwiches and Gatorade to sustain us through the guided tour.
Next was the guided tour through the King's Palace. This was some of the most unbelieveable beauty of the cave. The Park Ranger did a great job in her story-telling and history of the cave. At one point, she turned off the lights and we were in total blackness...another very eerie feeling. This tour was 1 mile long and another 80 feet below the self-guided tour so we have now walked 2.25 miles and were 830 feet below the surface of the earth, which is the deepest part of the cave.
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