Carlsbad Caverns

Yesterday we spent the whole day at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We hiked (unguided) into the cave's natural entrance and descended 1.2 miles down to the biggest chamber in the cave (3rd largest in the US).

Along the way we passed through large chambers and narrow tunnels. We saw amazing rock formations, pools of pristine cave water, and the black hole that led to the "bat cave" portion of the cave. The biggest chamber is located 750 feet below ground (that's the height of two Statues of Liberty!). There is a high-speed elevator that takes visitors back to the surface from there (pop your ears!). After lunch, the girls and I rested in the camper out in the parking lot while James took the elevator back down to explore the large chamber and its offshoots (another 1.2 mile hike around!). He took some great photos:

Then we had dinner in the camper before heading to the cave's entrance one last time to watch a ranger presentation on bats.

At 8:05 pm, tens of thousands of bats emerged from the cave and flew over our heads into the evening sky (no photos allowed... cameras and cellphones mess with the bats' sonar). What a fun and educational day! :) Connie