Big Circle – Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

So, there I was, hot, dusty and tired from an early morning rising, long drive and two hikes at Guadalupe National Park with a windshield smeared with bugs, heading up to my hotel near Carlsbad Caverns.

I didn’t know what time the Carlsbad Caverns Visitors Center closed and I had gained an hour driving into New Mexico (Mountain Time jags east at the border), so I figured I would drive in and see if I could pick up information for the next day.

Just a few miles in, I saw a sign saying the VC closes at 5:00 p.m. and it was 5:20. So, I turned around, but started thinking … I wondered if you could get in to watch the bats leave the cave. So, I pulled over and Googled it – finding out that there is a bat flight program at the mouth of the cave every night at 6:00 p.m.

So, I turned around and drove the winding, seven-mile trip like a bat out of hill (seems appropriate), arriving at the parking lot at about 6:05 p.m. Then, I had to run down the trail to the cave mouth, where there is a very nice amphitheater that faces the gaping maw. 

Cave entrance

Expecting to burst into a program in session, I was surprised to find that the program had not started yet. So, I settled in.

The program started with a lengthy lecture that all phones and cameras needed to be off and put away because the electronic sounds and lights can scare the bats (I already knew this and had left mine in the car). You can actually get a citation for breaking that rule. That’s why there are no pictures here by me.

Photo: NPS

Then, families with small children were instructed to take any children out who start to cry or move around too much. Most complied, some (grrrrrr) didn’t.

The program is basically filler as you wait for the bats. On this night, which was getting cooler as the sun set (and I hadn’t brought a jacket in my rush), the bats were late – very late. They finally started flying out about an hour after normal. They didn’t leave in one giant mass, but rather than in waves of several hundred at a time. Most flew over our heads or to the right, but some actually buzzed our heads. It was really cool.

Then, I went back to the entrance and checked into the Rodeway Inn, which is literally at the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns. Quick dinner in my room, shower and crash.

I got up early the next morning and drove in so that I could be there when the VC opened. 

Guadalupe Mountains National Park from Carlsbad Caverns National Park 

How many places can you see one National Park from another?

Morning ritual

I got my pass for a self-tour of the cavern (free with my NPS annual pass) and waited until they called the self-tour people to the mouth of the cave a little after 8:30 a.m.

I had last been at Carlsbad Caverns in 1975 and we had taken a guided tour. We were not there in the evening. This was a completely different experience.

I started out quickly to distance myself from the other 6-8 people going in down the trail (many folks take the elevator and skip the mile-long hike in. 

Walking in

The hike in drops 750 feet and it a bit slick. But, it is a well-maintained paved trail with adequate handrails.

Nice path

It was so worth it. I spent almost my entire walk through the cave by myself, with no other people in view.

Carlsbad Cavern includes a large cave chamber, the Big Room, which is almost 4,000 feet long, 625 feet wide and 255 feet high at the highest point (it also has a pit that drops 140 feet down from main cave level). It is the fifth largest chamber in North America and the 28^th largest in the world.

It was magical

About 250 million years ago, the area was the coastline of an inland sea, full of marine life, the remains of which formed a reef. After the water evaporated, the reef was buried by sediments, uplifted and eroded to form the Guadalupe Mountains.

Carlsbad Caverns is in a bed of limestone that is now above groundwater level, but it was within the groundwater zone when it was form. Underneath are major petroleum reserves. 

Looking up

In the Cenozoic period, hydrogen sulfide began to seep upwards from the petroleum into the groundwater. 

Multiple looks

The combination of hydrogen sulfide and oxygen from the water formed sulfuric acid, which dissolved the limestone to form caverns.

Stalactites

Once the acidic groundwater drained from the caverns, speleothems (including stalagmites, stalactites, columns, soda straws, draperies, helictites and popcorn) began to be deposited within the cavern. 

It looks like a fairy castle

Erosion above ground created the natural entrance within the past million years. Exposure to the surface has allowed for the influx of air into the cavern. Rainwater and snowmelt percolating downward pick up carbon dioxide continue the process of building speleothems.

Active formation

Jim White discovered the cavern when he was 16 years old, following what he thought was smoke, but was actually masses of bats.

A pretty view

He explored the cavern with a homemade wire ladder and named many of the rooms. Until 1932, visitors had to walk down the ramp that I took. Then, opened a large visitor center building that contained two elevators. In the interest of time, I took the elevator back up.

I can't believe these photos even came out

About 400,000 bats (primarily Mexican Freetail bats) live in the cave, but that area isn’t open to the public. 

A nice visit

For many years after the cave was discovered, the bat guano was mined and sent to California to fertilize crops. They migrate to Mexico during the winter.

Trip date: September 24-October 7, 2014