Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns is in the far southeastern corner of New Mexico, with very little around beside the caverns. It’s definitely a destination rather than a, “Hmm, let’s give it a look” as you’re driving by on the way to something else.

The usual way to visit the caverns is by taking an elevator from the visitor center 755 feet underground, wandering the paths through the Hall of Giants and the Big Room, and taking the elevator back up. There’s relatively little elevation gain once you’re at the bottom, and there is a small Jetsons-inspired gift shop and café, bathrooms that have cave rock protruding along the walls, and even a mailbox if you’d like to send a postcard from deep underground. However, last November the elevators broke down.

At the time of our visit, the only option was to go in via the natural entrance, a mile-long series of switchbacks that leads past the nose-punishing stench of the cave swallow nests before offering views of the formations below. It’s actually a great way to get to the floor of the caverns, if a little hard on the knees. It’s a little less great to have to come back up that way.

Natural entrance

Carlsbad Caverns didn’t offer anything new in terms of the actual formations, compared to other caves we’ve been to. What sets it apart is size: it’s mind-bogglingly huge. The lighting is fairly dim and the ceiling isn’t visible in many places. It just recedes into the dark, as do the paths ahead and behind you. At one point you can lean over to look into the feature called the Bottomless Pit, and hope you don’t drop anything, because you’re never getting it back.

We decided not to stay for the bat flight this time, because it was still early enough that they weren’t there in numbers, but if we go back it will be a little later in the year and we’ll schedule a ranger-guided tour to see additional rooms in the caverns. We spent about four hours underground, and probably would have taken even more time if the rangers hadn’t been pushing people out hours before the last posted entry time.

  

We enjoyed our visit, and here are some recommendations based on our experience:

• Go in by the natural entrance, even if the elevators are working.
• If you want to photograph the formations, take a tripod if you can. The lighting is very dim and your shutter speeds will have to be very slow.
• If you’re using the camera on your phone, turn off the flash. Newer phones will actually do pretty well without (see photo above); the flash flattens out the look of the formations, and it doesn’t reach far enough to do more than wash out what’s closest and throw a shadow over anything further back. Plus, I can almost guarantee that you’re blinding someone every time you trigger the flash.
• An exception to not using the flash is if you’re trying to take a selfie/family portrait. Just be a good cave citizen and be aware of who’s around you before pressing that button.
• If the elevator is still out, know that you probably won’t have as much time as you think to explore, so get there early.
• If watching the bat flight is important to you, end of May through summer is probably the best time to go.
• If you have pets with you in a car during the warm months, you will be required to kennel them at the caverns. It’s for your pet’s safety, so either leave them behind, or be prepared to use the provided kennels.

Seeing the light of day was like a mirage after several hours underground