Visiting Carlsbad Caverns

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Visiting Carlsbad Caverns should be on everyone’s travel bucket list. This miraculous place is a true testament to the beauty of Mother Nature. With ancient sea ledges high above deep rocky canyons, beautiful flowering cacti, and a wide variety of desert wildlife, the surface of the National Park is beautiful on its own. But then you see what lies below.

Stalactites and stalagmites that seem to drip from the ceilings and protrude from the floors of 119 caves with vast interiors and impressive formations everywhere you look are waiting for you to descend beneath the earth. That’s just what we did on our recent trip to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico. 

Visiting Carlsbad Caverns

Located in Carlsbad, New Mexico, in the Chihuahua Desert, Carlsbad Caverns National Park has so much to offer any visitor. Beautiful rocky vistas, more green than you might think, cacti with vibrantly colored blooms and a variety of wildlife are all waiting to be observed and etched into your memory.

The drive to the park is full of natural beauty, and the park itself is beautiful in its quasi-starkness.

While the desert is gorgeous, most people come for the caves. It was the same for us. We booked a reservation for the King’s Palace Tour to explore the beautiful formations hidden below the desert’s surface. 

What You Need to Know

Carlsbad Caverns National Park is open year-round but closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. This includes the visitor center, cavern, roads, and trails.

You can find more information HERE about hours, restrictions, and what you need to know about visiting the park.

If you’re visiting the caverns, be aware of the times such as the last entrance time, elevator times, and if reservations are needed.

You can find messages on the website as well for any closings and restrictions.  This can include road closings due to weather, new restrictions, and no drones allowed in the park.

Reservations and Passes are Required

Cavern tours require reservations, and all visitors to the park must have an entrance pass. Most tour tickets open 30-days in advance to reserve online or by phone, not at the park.   

In addition, reservations are only for selecting an entry time. The tickets themselves must be purchased at the visitor center upon arrival.  Plan to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to your time.

While waiting on a tour, or just killing time, make sure to check out the Visitor’s Center for more information about the caverns and tours.  There’s also a gift shop and cafe.

You will find this bat tree in reference to tours you can take evenings for the bats to emerge from the caverns.

Tour Rules

You should know a few things before taking the King’s Palace Tour. First, this tour takes you into the deepest part of the canyon, 830 feet below the surface. Take this into account if you have claustrophobia. Sturdy shoes with excellent grip are also recommended, as the caves can have wet spots.

Also, the lights may flicker or be slow to turn on during parts of the tour. This is normal, but you’ll have to evaluate if you’re comfortable with light flickering and random changes like these.

Finally, you’ll be required to walk on a bio-cleaning mat after exiting the cave. This helps prevent the spreading of fungus, which causes White Nose Syndrome in bats. This is a deadly infection and ensuring it doesn’t spread is important. 

The King’s Palace Tour

The King’s Palace Tour is a ranger-guided tour through four beautiful cavern chambers. Lasting about an hour and a half, this tour offers views of various cave formations, including helictites, draperies, columns, and soda straws.

At various times during the tour, the rangers conduct blackouts. During these periods, the lights are briefly turned off to highlight the natural darkness of the cave.

At over 800 feet below the surface and with chambers that reach high above you, these caverns offer a new way to look at the planet and some of the most beautiful rock formations you’ll find anywhere in the world. 

This is just a sampling of some of my photos.  I have many more if you would like to see them, let me know.  My phone and camera doesn’t do the caverns justice.  Some have been edited since the caverns can be very dark in places.

I think it’s amazing how no two formations are alike and so different from the rest.

Always follow the rules as instructed such as staying on the path and “don’t touch”

Put Visting Carlsbad Caverns on Your List

If you’re looking for natural beauty that’s different from what you usually see, visiting Carlsbad Caverns should be on your list of National Parks.

With its beautiful desert vistas above and its enormous caverns below, this National Park offers beauty like nothing else you’ve ever seen. Our tour of the caverns is one that will stay with us forever, as well as the views of the desert we enjoyed. It’s truly a beautiful place. 

Don’t forget to look up.

Being from Eastern Tennessee, it was easy to notice the terrain and color of the mountains compared to those we see here. 

One of our tour guides had worked a few years ago at Chickamauga Battlefield, and another employee had gone to Bryan College.  You always seem to find a local connection when traveling.

Last year was the 100th Anniversary for Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  We missed the party by just a few days.  Cakes was involved.

Other Highlights of New Mexico

We spent several days in Santa Fe, stay at LA FONDA ON THE PLAZA.  It was a great place to park and walk for the local attractions.  

Look soon for more of our trip including Route 66 in New Mexico, attending the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta (and our first hot air balloon ride), looking for aliens in Roswell, more on Santa Fe, and exploring Los Alamos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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