Carlsbad Caverns

By Dave G. Houser

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© Longfellow's Bathtub, Big Room
© NPS/Peter Jones

"The thing that constantly amazes me about the caverns," says Carlsbad Caverns National Park Ranger Mike Rasbury, "is the amount and variety of life we find down here."

We've observed bats and some cave swallows—but even in the dim light I can see skepticism written all over the faces of my fellow spelunkers, now touring King's Palace. "It helps if you know what you're looking for," admits Rasbury, shining a flashlight into a sterile-looking pool of water.

We crane our necks and refocus on the murky pool. "Look now," Rasbury enthuses. "There's a water beetle!" We look on, with the satisfaction of at least thinking we've spotted the thing. "Scientists," our guide adds, "are only beginning to understand the complex organisms that can survive in the caverns."

For more than three-quarters of a century Carlsbad Caverns has reigned as New Mexico's most popular natural attraction and its only national park. That's a mere nanosecond on a geological timeline that places the origins of America's largest natural cavern sometime during the Permian period—about 250 million years ago.

Today the park occupies a rugged swatch of desert on the eastern shoulder of the Guadalupe Mountains, but in Permian times this area was covered by a shallow sea and bisected by 400-mile-long Capitan Reef. Over time, the sea receded and the limestone reef uplifted. Briny seawater mixed with hydrogen sulfide gas to form sulfuric acid, which worked to dissolve the limestone, eventually leaving the region honeycombed with caverns. The process is ongoing as slightly acidic water percolates down into the cavern chambers, constantly building or adding to the bizarre calcite formations—and providing a nice home for all of Ranger Rasbury's critters.

It is, of course, these formations—stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, popcorn, curtains, columns, flowstone and others—that bring us to these caverns to stare in fascination. My wife and I have explored Carlsbad Caverns many times over the years. This year, the national park is expected to host nearly a half-million visitors.

Nearby Carlsbad (pop. 30,000) offers the usual small-town range of shops, restaurants and bars—plus a nice beach and shady park on the Pecos River. The town's name was changed from Eddy to Carlsbad, after the Bohemian spa town, in 1898 when a hot mineral spring was discovered there. Plans for a spa never materialized, though they soon did for a big cave south of town.

"Around sundown, more than half a million bats exit the cavern's Natural Entrance in a great speckled spiral."

While there are 113 known caves scattered about the 47,000-acre park, what is commonly referred to as "Carlsbad Caverns" is essentially one massive cave known as the Big Room, measuring 14 acres and with a ceiling more than 200 feet high in places. A long corridor connects the Big Room to the Natural Entrance, one of two tour entrances.

The Natural Entrance trek is the more demanding route, winding steeply downward for 1.2 miles at the rate of nearly 800 feet per mile. It leads through or past such attractions as Bat Cave, Devil's Spring, Green Lake Overlook and Iceberg Rock—a 200,000 ton boulder that fell from the cave ceiling thousands of years ago. The trail leads to the Big Room where you can commence the 1.2-mile ramble around the perimeter of this massive cavern. You'll need three or four hours and good stamina to complete this combined 2.5-mile self-guided tour.

Most visitors take the basic Big Room tour, which begins at the recently renovated Visitor Center with a 750-foot elevator ride down to the trailhead. Relatively level and well-lighted trails make this ideal for folks with limited time or physical restrictions. Most of the Big Room is, in fact, accessible by wheelchair. All trails on public tour routes are paved, but low-heel, non-skid shoes are a must, as is a jacket or sweater to keep you warm in the constant 56-degree temperature of the cavern.

The Park Service offers CD-ROM audio guides that are triggered by hidden sensors at various locations in the cave. These headsets add $3 to the nominal $6 ($4 for the kids) entrance fee, and provide a wealth of information to enhance your understanding of such Big Room features as the Bottomless Pit, Giant Dome, Rock of Ages and Painted Grotto.

The King's Palace Tour is a third option for exploring the main cave. This 1.5-hour ranger-guided adventure ($8 extra; $4 for children and Golden Age Passport holders) takes in four scenic chambers: King's Palace, Queen's Chamber, Papoose Room and the Green Lake Room. Although not as difficult as the Natural Entrance route, the mile-long tour descends to the deepest point in the cave open to the public and involves climbing up and down the equivalent of an eight-story building. Reservations are recommended. On our tour, Ranger Rasbury flipped off the lights to allow us to briefly experience the inky blackness of the natural cave environment. We'd been warned that tour groups often are large and the pace too fast for photography. Fortunately, our group consisted of only a dozen folks, so we had time to engage Ranger Rasbury in conversation and to enjoy the experience at a leisurely pace. Flash photography and tripods are permitted in Carlsbad Caverns. Most scenes are far too expansive for all but pro lighting equipment, so you'll likely get better results using a tripod.

All tours exit the cavern via elevator. There are restrooms adjacent to the elevator lobby and a lunchroom where bland dishes are balanced by the extraordinary underground setting.

For agile adventurers who don't mind crawling along slippery passages and squeezing through tight crevices, there are several more ranger-guided options taking in remote, unlighted chambers of the main cave and backcountry Slaughter Canyon Cave. Reservations are required for those tours.

For some visitors, bats are the most fascinating aspect of the Carlsbad experience. Around sundown between May and October, more than a half million Mexican free-tail bats exit the cavern's Natural Entrance in a great speckled spiral. The formation spreads out over the desert toward the Pecos River, where the bats feast on insects before returning at dawn to their subterranean roosts.

To watch the nightly bat flight, plan to arrive at the outdoor amphitheater adjacent to the Visitor Center about a half-hour before dusk, where rangers do a presentation on bats and their ecological importance. It is a magical moment as 500,000 to 700,000 bats pour from the caverns. Needless to say, this free nightly event helps pack 'em in at the amphitheater. Unfortunately, cameras and videos are not allowed, as the electronics are thought to be harmful to the bats' sensitive hearing and the flashes disorient them. Although Carlsbad sits at the northern fringes of the great Chihuahuan Desert, there's a dramatic chunk of mountain wilderness less than an hour's drive southwest of the city on NM 137. The Guadalupe Mountains, which rise to more than 5,000 feet, offer some spectacular sightseeing and hiking. A popular side trip leads to Sitting Bull Falls, located seven miles southwest of NM 137 on Forest Route 276. Hidden in a rugged ravine, this 130-foot cataract is one of the tallest in the state.

Not to be missed during any visit to the Carlsbad area is Living Desert Zoological and Botanical State Park. Often cited as New Mexico's finest state park, it sprawls across a hillside overlooking Carlsbad and the Pecos River Valley and offers a fascinating introduction to the flora, fauna and geology of the Chihuahuan Desert.

A 1.3-mile self-guided trail leads through sand dunes and cactus, arroyos and piņon/juniper forest. More than 40 species of native wildlife, ranging from prairie dogs to bison and mountain lions to endangered Mexican wolves, roam large compounds. An aviary houses hawks, eagles, owls, wild turkeys and, of course, New Mexico's goofy state bird, the road runner. The botanical side of desert life is well represented, too, by grounds sporting cholla, yucca, agave and prickly pear. In a giant greenhouse, you can peruse cacti and succulents from some of the world's other deserts.

It's a place that goes to show there's more to Carlsbad than just its famous caverns.

Dave Houser is a freelance writer and photographer based in Nogal, New Mexico.

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Carlsbad Caverns Photos:
The Natural Entrance. (c) NPS/Peter Jones.
Taking the path downwards from the Natural Entrance through Devil's Den. (c) NPS/Peter Jones.
Stalagmites at Devil's Spring in Carlsbad Caverns. (c) NPS/Peter Jones.
Taking the path downwards from the Natural Entrance through Devil's Den. (c) NPS/Peter Jones.
The Witch's Finger is an odd formation found along the Natural Entrance route. (c) NPS/Peter Jones.
The Hall of Giants section of the Big Room route. (c) NPS/Peter Jones.


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