We left Amarillo and were going to head to Albequerque – When we looked at the map, I thought hey! There’s Roswell! At least we should head South and see what it’s all about.
And we did. I’m sure there was a lot to see, but looking at the map and where to camp next I saw Carlsbad..they have a BIG cavern there, so away we went.
The above is the cave entrance amphitheatre where during the bat season, people gather here to watch the thousands of bats leave the cave daily at sunset. We unfortunately were out of season.
We chose the natural entrance self guided tour and rented the audio guide.
Linda starting the descent with the switchbacks.
Into the darkness we descended.
The cave is reasonably lit, but when coming in from the sunny surface it looks very dark.
The photos will not do the experience justice of course…but i’ll try…
This was huge! I didn’t have a tripod with me – silly eh? – so almost all the photos are taken with the camera resting on rock – the walkway has a ledge that could accommodate the camera.
There were some underground lakes as well. This one is just a pool from the drip water.
We wished to do some of the more exciting tours, but they were all booked up for Thanksgiving week….yup, we are Canadian.
That was a fantastic morning! We might have to return and do the long guided tour where the participants have to crawl through tight spaces wearing knee pads to see much farther caverns deeper into the cave.
Away we went west.
Lincoln National forest and Oliver Lee State Park…
PS if you ever get to Arkansas check out Blanchard Springs caverns, your photos reminded me of our trip there a few years back.
I’m way too claustrophobic to do the cave crawl, looking forward to more photos if you return.
Not this trip – we might go back on the return trip to find out if we are claustrophobic
Amazing images. Just remember not to make that left turn at Albuquerque (I am sure I butchered the name of their fine city).
Thanks Arnold – we did we did make the left turn but we didn’t quite make it to Albequerque- in case this is double reply – I am trying it out in the WP app:)