Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Very close to Guadalupe Mountains, technically still in the mountain range, is Carlsbad Caverns National Park. There is also a small amount of hiking in this national park but we focused on the caverns themselves.

Unlike Mammoth Caves, Carlsbad Caverns allows self guided tours of the natural entrance and the big room. Which was extra nice for us because entrance on those tours falls under the park entrance fee and is covered by our annual pass.

 

We opted to walk in the natural entrance into the big room and then take the elevator back up. This meant that we started by descending 750 feet along 1.25 miles into the cave. It was pretty steep, but mostly pretty wide. It also takes you by some pretty cool formations like the Boneyard.

The main attraction is the big room. The tour around the big room is another 1.25 miles but this time mostly very flat. There are tons of cave "decorations", or speleothems, around.

 

 

There was also some left over remnants of early cave explorers, who took this ladder 90 feet down into the lower cave. A prospect Kathleen found terrifying. 

To get back up we took the elevator, which left from the "Rest Area and Lunchroom," an area of the cave that made us giggle. It was a complete plaza in the cave, with snacks and a gift shop that seemed super out of place.

They even had restrooms that looked like you were walking off into a deep cave tunnel, 

but were actually quite nice. 

The contrast here, made this part of the cave almost feel fake. More like a Disneyland cave than an actual cavern.

Throughout our tour we couldn't help comparing Carlsbad Caverns to Mammoth Cave. Overall, the Caverns are a lot more open. The big room is "mammoth" in a way Mammoth cave wasn't. The mammoth nature of Mammoth caves comes from the fact that they stretch 419 miles, more of which is still being discovered. But they can still feel very claustrophobic. The Big Room however is nearly 4,000 feet long, 625 feet wide and 255 feet high at its highest point. As long as you can get past the fact that you are 800 feet unground, its really quite hard to be claustrophobic. There are also tight parts of the Caverns that they take guided tours too, but we didn't end up taking one.

The Caverns have many more speleothems, and are much more "spectacular," but they also feel much more "developed." While large sections of both caves are lit, a trip with a ranger into Mammoth Cave feels much more like an exploration. They will turn off the lights at one point in the tour letting you see and hear what the caves are naturally like. Meanwhile there a paved paths and handrails throughout Carlsbad Caverns, and everyone is viewing at their own pace.

Both of the cave parks we've seen so far have been incredibly fascinating and gorgeous. And also very different and unique.