Peg and I are currently visiting our daughter, Laura in Carlsbad. It is nice to be out of the smoke and in warmer weather. Thursday, Laura took the day off and we went to Carlsbad Caverns. This is a wonderful place and the Park Service is doing a great job keeping the cavern open during the pandemic.
We got there early to be sure we got tickets to tour the cave. We were on the 9:15 group of about 20 people. A park ranger grouped everyone together and gave a briefing on what to expect, what not to do and to encourage everyone to have a good time. Frankly, I was surprised at how steep the trail down was and that it kept going down. Down close to 800 feet. There were seemingly unending switchbacks spotted with the occasional sitting area. Once we were out of the entrance area we were in a very low light area where people used their phones or small flashlights to see the path.
It is approximately 1.5 miles to the bottom of the trail which ends at the entrance to the Big Room. There is a nice facility here with food, tables and much needed restrooms. The Big Room trail takes off from here and runs for another 1.2 miles of mostly level path through this large cavern. This is an amazing place. Gladly after walking down 800 feet there is an elevator that whisked us up to the visitor center.
Now that I have seen this impressive cave, I am putting Wind Cave on my list of must see places. We have been to the visitor center there but never taken the elevator down to tour the cave. Now I am thinking it is a must do in the future. What other caves should be on my list?
Enjoy the images. There are 250 or so in this album. This was an extremely low light experience and the Nikon D780 without flash did a great job. I think there is only one blurry image. Hope you get the sense of the cavern and what it looks like.
Best regards,
Sjh
Steve and Peg's Adventures 