We woke up in the gravel parking lot after a good night of sleep, ready for a day of adventure. The drive to Carlsbad Caverns was nice and short (~20 minutes) and we pulled over for our family park photo.
The drive up the hill to the visitor center was nice and twisty and when we pulled into the parking lot I was surprised to see how full it was. There was a truck backing out of a spot so we swept in and claimed it. we used the restrooms, stepped inside the visitor center to get the kid’s Jr. Ranger packets and some advice/info from the rangers. Noon was drawing near and with the walking ahead of us we fueled up on lunch in the van. Our friends had arrived and got a spot near ours where they too fixed up lunch and then we all set off together.
Walking through the visitor center we took in a ranger talk regarding the early pioneers to the caves and it’s transition into a national monument and then into a park. The kids played on an interactive display that allowed them to choose the mineral, location and type of water flow, and then showed them what type of formation that recipe would create. It was neat because it got them excited to go see the formations below.
Once the kids had expended their intrigue and were getting antsy, we set off on the trail towards the mouth of the cave. We could have taken the elevator down to the depth of the main room of the cave ~750 feet below the visitor center, but made the decision to save that for the ride back up to the surface (spoiler alert: this was a mistake, kind of). The aroma coming up out of the mouth of the cave smacked us all in the face as we approached. The temperature quickly drops to mid 50s as you enter the mouth and remains pretty constant throughout. The descent to the main area is a countless number of switchbacks through varying levels of darkness. Almost halfway down we bumped into a ranger going the opposite direction.
He was very kind, answering all our questions and explaining science’s consistency with Christianity. How some things we may just never fully comprehend and that it’s okay. He also pointed out the fact that we weren’t even halfway down and that if we didn’t hurry, we wouldn’t make it to the bottomless pit, which was a big draw for the kiddos who were already starting the murmur about the length of the walk.
All the way down there are beautiful formations and plaques designating their individual names as well as the type of formation. When we finally did make it to the bottom, the kids were already out of gas to continue. Though in their minds, the conundrum existed that they wanted to see the bottomless put, but didn’t want to walk any further, ugh! 🙂
We adjusted our aim for the “shortcut” loop (about .2miles) inside the big room which still takes us through the Hall of Giants and some other really neat formations. It was still a rough go as the kid’s good attitudes had vanished but we made it to the shortcut and back the other side of the loop to the revolving door which leads to the lobby for the elevators to the blue skies above. We made it into the second elevator car up and joked with the ranger who had presented the talk regarding the early pioneers in the visitor center earlier in the day.
The ride up 750 feet was quick and smooth and when we stepped out we only had an hour before the Visitor Center closed for the day. We used the restrooms and hustled out to the van to grab a snack and finish the Jr. Ranger packets. Coming back to the information counter inside the visitor center, we once again talked with Ranger Michael who had both given the talk and escorted us up the elevator. He talked with the kids about the caves (Henry admitted touching the rocks ONCE) and advised us on where we could camp for the night ahead instead of going back to the gravel driveway.
After receiving their badges we hustled to the theatre where we caught the last 15 minutes of the last video presentation for the day. We bought our park sticker in the shop and headed back out to Molly who was eager to get out of the park so she could do some more roaming around New Mexico.
We discussed the options Michael had presented with our friends, and picked out a first and second option. They loaned us one of their handheld radios and we set off down the hill and out of the park. On our way we were fortunate to see a couple groups of big horn sheep (probably about 25 all together). We headed north back towards the town of Carlsbad where we’d need to make a town run the next day before heading further south towards our next destination of Guadalupe Mountain National Park, in Texas.
The road to our first option was steep, rocky, but also enticing, so we went for it and were rewarded by panoramic views, a nice level site with room for both families, and the appearance of super heroes before bedtime.
