April 18, 2016
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Carlsbad, NM

Today was cool and cloudy so we decided to make the short drive over to see the Caverns. It was about a 45 minute drive and the Caverns are located southwest of Carlsbad.

You have to drive several miles back off the main road to get to the Visitors Center.

The Center is situated on top of a small mountain (in Colorado this is called a hill ;>) ) and you get a great view of the surrounding area.

The Center has a very nice museum with many displays and models of the caverns. There is a small theatre that shows a short video about how the caverns were created.

As I said in a previous post, the elevator that takes you down to the main cavern, called The Big Room, is out of service. So we came here knowing we weren't going to get to see that, but I was able to walk down to the Natural Entrance and get some pictures of it and the brave souls that were willing to make the 80 story hike in and out.

The pathway from the Visitor Center to the Natural Entrance.

The opening to the Natural Entrance. This is also the amphitheater for the viewing of the flight of the bats leaving the cave at dusk.

I can only imagine how spectacular the caves are, but from the video and all the pictures I'm sure it is an amazing visual and quite an adventure. They offer self guided and guided tours depending on how adventurous you are. Per the video, approximately 135 miles of the caves have been explored and they explore a little more each year. They don't know how far they actually extend.

All in all it was a great place to visit and another great National Park. And of course we capped the visit off with another fridge magnet.....