Southwest Road Trip: Carlsbad Caverns National Park

The view of the cavern opening from just inside the cave.

This is somewhere I have wanted to take my kids and husband for a while.  When I was 13, my parents took us to the Carlsbad Caverns.  I have such fond memories of our visit there.  I remember it taking most of the day to walk down into and through the caverns.

Heading Down! 

It really was as fascinating and beautiful as I remember.  The long day's drive from Albuquerque was totally worth it.  We arrived in the evening, so we drove to the cavern to watch the bats come outof the cave at night.  The Ranger Talk that proceeded the exiting of 1000's of bats, was very entertaining and informative.  I highly recommend going at dusk for this experience.

Whales Mouth

The Chandelier

The next morning we started early and hiked down into the cavern - we just opted for the self-guided tour.  You go 75 stories underground, tour through numerous large rooms with fantastic formations and then take a 1 minute elevator ride back up.

My kids thought is was one of the most fantastic places they had ever been.  Dylan said it was his favorite place in the world.  It was a great place to spend a 100F summer day, it's a cool 56F inside the caverns.  And no strollers, so Olivia rode happily along on Lon's back.  The ask that you speak quietly inside the caverns because the sound travels well.  Olivia didn't obey this rule, she chattered and squealed at her echo.

This was a very unique place to photograph.  I was wishing for my tripod the whole time.  But, I still enjoyed the challenge of trying to capture the shapes and forms of the space.