Carlsbad Caverns - the Grand Canyon of caves

We’ve seen many caves over the years but nothing prepared us for the majesty of Carlsbad Caverns. WOW! It was the Grand Canyon of caves and the height made me dizzy when looking up. The photos don’t do it justice. The Big Room is just that – enormous! They had an elevator installed to take people down the 750 feet to the caves, or you can walk down. It took us an hour to walk around and here are just a few pics from the Big room:

We went back again the following day and walked down through the natural entrance,

a steep 1 ¼ miles (2km) path that zig-zagged descending more than 800 feet (equivalent to 79 stories). We did a guided tour of the Kings Palace cavern, and here are a few shots from there:

Last weekend (18^th January) we visited Kartchner Caverns. Discovered in 1974 in the Whetstone Mountains of Arizona, they were kept a secret for quite some time in order to keep them pristine. The State Parks acquired them in 1988 and more than 10 years and $28m later, the upper caverns were ready to open to the public. Lessons had been learnt from other caves (such as Carlsbad) on what to and not to do in order to keep them as they are. We could not take in any bags, phones or cameras and were sprayed with a light mist in order to keep our clothes from shedding lint in the caverns. What we saw were amazing rock formations of many colours, still living, all as a result of water, both current and over millions of years.

On our way from Kartchner caverns in Arizona to Carlsbad in New Mexico, we went up and through the Guadalupe Pass, at around 5,700 feet

and stayed at Brantley Lake State Park just north of Carlsbad. We were the only ones on our side of the park and it was lovely watching the sunset and listening to the coyotes during the night:

We’re now in San Antonio in Texas, waiting for the polar vortex to pass and the better weather to return J