Beneath the rugged desert, rocky slopes and deep canyons that make up Carlsbad Caverns National Park, lies an underground treasure including more than 117 known caves. Carlsbad Caverns, tucked underneath the scenic Guadalupe Mountain ranges in the Chihuahuan Desert of southeastern New Mexico and West Texas, contains some of the largest and most visited caves in America. The Guadalupe Mountains are an uplifted portion of ancient reef, which thrived along the edge of an inland sea more than 250 million years ago. Preserved in the rocks are the ancient bodies of sponges, algae, snails, nautilus and more. That same fossil reef also formed the caves beneath the surface. Over time, sulfuric acid dissolved into surrounding limestone, creating stunning rock formations jetting down from the cave ceilings. More than 300,000 visitors travel to Carlsbad Caverns each year for a rare glimpse of the underground worlds preserved beneath the desert. Visitors to the caverns may choose to hike the steep and strenuous 1.25 mile paved trail into the cave’s natural entrance or take a short, one-minute elevator ride from the Visitor’s Center down into the caves.
History of Carlsbad Caverns
From a young age, Jim White explored the cavern with his homemade wire ladder. When he grew older, most people did not seem to believe such caves existed. He gave many of the rooms their names, including the Big Room, New Mexico Room, Kings Palace, Queens Chamber, Papoose Room, and Green Lake Room. He also named many of the cave’s more prominent formations, such as the Totem Pole, Witch’s Finger, Giant Dome, Bottomless Pit, Fairyland, Iceberg Rock, Temple of the Sun, and Rock of Ages.The town of Carlsbad, which lends its name to the Cavern and National Park, is in turn named after the Czech town formerly known by the German name Karlsbad and now known by the Czech name Karlovy Vary, both of which mean “Charles’ Bath.”Until 1932, visitors to the cavern had to walk down a switch back ramp-sidewalk that took them 750 feet below the surface. The walk back up was tiring for a lot of visitors. In 1932 the National Park opened up a large visitor center building that contained two elevators that would take visitors to the caverns below. The new center included a cafeteria, waiting room, museum and first aid area.
The Caves
Big Cave is the biggest cavern, measuring approximately 3,800 feet long by 600 feet wide. It boasts some of the largest and most colorful rock formations, which are illuminated by white lights. Lower Cave also contains remarkable formations, and Left Hand Tunnel is renowned for its cave pools and fossils. The King’s Palace is a series of four chambers, located in the deepest accessible area of the caverns, which contain unusual rippled rock formations known as the Queen’s Draperies. The Hall of the White Giant is a remote cavern famous for its huge white stalagmite. All of these caves can be visited via a guided or self-guided tour.
Tours of Carlsbad Caverns
You can enter Big Room on foot, via the Natural Entrance, which offers a steep, 1.25-mile descent, or by elevator. Self-guided tour routes are of varying difficulty, and some — such as Spider Cave and the Hall of the White Giant — require crawling through passageways. The Big Room route is easiest, and takes approximately two hours. You can rent a hand-held audio guide to accompany the tour. Carlsbad Caverns is Beauty of Mexico. Guided tours should be booked in advance as spaces are limited Holidays in USA. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult, and children under 3 are not permitted on tours. If you visit between mid-May and mid-October, stay until dusk to witness the incredible sight of thousands of Mexican freetail bats flying out of the caverns to hunt for bugs.
Other attractions
Three hiking trails and an unpaved drive provide access to the desert scenery and ecosystem. The developed portion around the cave entrance has been designated as The Caverns Historic District.A detached part of the park, Rattlesnake Springs Picnic Area, is a natural oasis with landscaping, picnic tables, and wildlife habitats. As a wooded riparian area in the desert, it has a remarkable variety of birds—over 300 species have been recorded—which makes it “the unofficial Mecca of New Mexico birders”. Rattlesnake Springs is designated a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places. Carlsbad Caverns is Good Place for Holidays. The National Audubon Society has designated Rattlesnake Springs an Important Bird Area . The natural entrance to the caverns is also an IBA because of its colony of Cave Swallows, possibly the world’s biggest. It will not be an exaggeration to say that Carlsbad Caverns is a Adventure Place For Vacations.