Carlsbad Caverns

After visiting Timpanogos Cave National Monument in October, Heather and I decided to head down to Carlsbad Caverns National Park on our way to Texas for the holidays. The weather turned out to be wonderful, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

After a long drive from Provo to Carlsbad, we got up early to be at the cave when it opened the next day. The drive to the visitor's center was quite pretty as we made our way through a canyon to a bluff in the Chihuahuan desert. We opted to walk in the natural entrance, which is a daunting mile-and-a-half walk through down a paved path. One wonders how the original explorers, mainly Jim White, managed the decent over a century ago.

Once down in the cave, we rested for a bit at the underground rest area, and then departed on a ranger-led tour of the Kings Room. In addition to the Kings Room, we took the self-guided tour around the Big Room (ground area of over 14 football fields!) and saw many other formations and features. When we'd had our fill of the caves, we took the elevator the 750 feet back up to the surface and began the long drive to our destination in Dallas.