New Mexico Pt. 1 Carlsbad Caverns National Park

The drive from Texas to New Mexico was gorgeous! Plateaus and desert vegetation took over the landscape, until finally I arrived at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. While they haven’t been offering guided tours of the cavern, they do allow self-guided of the natural entrance all the way through the Big Room part of the cavern. I started my descent into the natural entrance and was taken aback at how far down I could see it leading to (little did I know that was only the beginning of how deep it goes). The cavern is as deep in the ground as the Empire State Building is tall! As I made my way down the switch backs tons of swallows flew around the entrance and ceiling, filling the open cavern with noise. Starting at the end of May, at sunset, tons and tons of bats fly out of the mouth of the cavern. People are able to watch as it happens at the amphitheater, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to see it this time around.

The lower I went, the darker it got. The path was paved and well lit and many areas of the cavern had spot lights highlighting interesting stalactites and stalagmites. I had never seen such giant and interesting features as I have in the Carlsbad Cavern. I was simply in awe the entire two hours I was underground.

I took a million photos, all disappointing compared to how amazing it looked in person. Even though every photo looked dark, discolored, or a little blurry I couldn’t help but try to capture what I was seeing. After a long descent, twists and turns, ducking and maneuvering through smaller tunnels I reached the Big Room. Which I overheard a ranger say to another visitor is about six to seven football fields in length. The Big Room did in fact feel like a big room. The three tallest/largest stalagmites were located in this part and an overlook of an even bigger section of the cavern can be looked down into from the Big Room. The intricate and delicate looking formations were interesting to see up close. Some looked like draped fabric, while others looked like blobs and growths on the stone walls. Thousands of spikey stalactites hung from the ceiling, which I looked up at very frequently to see if I was in direct shot of one that might happen to fall.

I tried to soak in every second of being down there. I even considered going through it twice. I don’t want to forget this experience, as I recognized how spectacular it was to be able to see. I’m glad my aunts told me about it at our Christmas get together because I would have totally missed out on something so cool. I’ll have to come back some day to see the bats take flight and do another walk through.

That evening I found some BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land to camp on for the night and enjoyed cooking dinner and the nice weather as the sun went down over the hill. The wind picked up and my van shook and squeaked the whole night. It was a good first day on my own.