Below the Chihuahuan Desert and near the Guadalupe Mountains in the southeastern corner of New Mexico lies Carlsbad Caverns. This cave system has more than 119 caves and has the largest chamber in North America called "the Big Room".
265 million years ago an inland sea and fossil reef formed over 300 caves made of limestone here. American Indians roamed this here and the Guadalupe Mountains for thousands of years.
You will need a required timed reservation to enter the cavern and strict mask wearing was enforced. You can take the elevator down or hike the
1.25 miles down into the deep and vast caverns. 17 species of bats make their home here including many other migratory bats that use this area as a layover to their next destination.
Cave crickets, tarantulas and beetles make these dark corners of the cave their home. The beautiful stalactites and columns of calcium are truly a wonder.
When they say "big room" it truly is massive and tall. A nicely paved walkway takes you through the fascinating and beautiful formations.
In 1898 a teenager by the name of Jim White found this cave and explored and named many rooms. He used homemade wire ladders and torches.
Guano (bat poop) a very potent fertilizer was mined here in the early 1900s.
They have explored over 30 miles of this cavern and only 3 are available to hike to the public. At the bottom you can find a restroom and a gift shop!
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Easier to take the elevator going back up! The elevator is 750 feet below the surface.
We had a late lunch in the park cafe and then waited to see the finale. We had hoped we would be lucky to see the bats nightly exit out of the mouth of the cave. They had mentioned that this week they looked to have a migratory flight and so we would have to wait and see. We came back at dusk to the amphitheater and had a park ranger giving us information and answering questions. We were stunned to witness the tornado of bats circling out of the cave just a half hour later. He estimated there to be over 300,000 bats. He believes that the free-tailed Mexican bats had already left but many other bats use this as sort of a layover too. They search for water and insects at night.
We were not able to take pictures or video to not disturb the bats but the image below is from the National Park Service website.
That moment will live forever in my memory. Truly a site to behold. Bats are truly an amazing creature and difficult to study. We truly need these amazing mammals as they are an unbelievable asset to our farms and agriculture.
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