Exploring the Caverns

What an incredible day today was. Steve and I travelled to Carlsbad Caverns National Park today to explore the caves, and what a magnificent trip it was. Although I have lived in New Mexico most of my life I have never had the privelage of visiting the Caverns. I sure have been missing out on such a wonderful creation! I knew that the Caverns were a great sight to see, but I did not expect them to be as magnificent as they actual are.

We decided to walk the Natural Entrance route instead of taking the elevator down to the Big Room, which is where the main visiting area of the Caverns. The Natural Entrance route was a mile in distance and dropped 750 ft. into the Caverns. Honestly, the route felt a lot longer than a mile and it tooke us about an hour to complete it. It was a steep path, and by the end of the path our knees were a bit weak. The views along the route were breath taking though.

By the time that we reached the bottom of the Natural Entrance route we were one step from being famished. Maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but we were quite hungry, so we had lunch in the rest area which is located in the Big Room. We had packed a good lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, banannas, gold fish, and carrots.

After lunch we explored the Big Room. According to the park's visitor guide, the Big Room is so big that it six football fields could fit inside it. There's a 1.2 mile trail that circles the Big Room. It was an amazing 1.2 miles. I was quite frustrated at times because my camera does not do well in dark places, and the Caverns were quite dark. Some of my pictures came out pretty decent though.

About 3/4 of the way through the path I got a bit sick so we didn't get to enjoy much of the rest of the path. We took the elevator back up 750 ft to the Earth's surface. We could have walked the Natural Entrance route again, but we figured it would have been a very strenuous walk back up, and the elevator was a quick and easy way to get back up.

Steve and I walked around the visitor center for awhile, bought some magnets and postcards, talked to a park ranger, and decided that it was time to leave. We anticipate to return to Carlsbad Caverns one day and do one of the ranger guided tours.

We're staying in Carlsbad tonight and tomorrow we are going to check out Gaudalupe National Park. After a short hike in that park we are heading back to Socorro.

If you have never been to Carlsbad Caverns, I highly suggest checking it out sometime. It is so beautiful and wonderful. Truly a great creation of God.

~Carmelita