Carlsbad Caverns in Guadalupe Mountains is Maybe the Most Colossal Cave Monument travel tips and stories. Vacations ideas, cruises, spa and resorts

Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Do you know this place? As you pass through the Chihuahuan Desert and Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas you might never guess there are more than 300 known caves beneath the surface.

The story of the creation of Carlsbad Cavern begins 250 million years ago with the creation of a 400 mile (600 km) long reef in an inland sea that covered this region. This horseshoe shaped reef formed from the remains of sponges, algae and seashells and from calcite that precipitated directly from the water. Cracks developed in the reef as it grew seaward.

Then, a few million years ago, uplift and erosion of the area began to uncover the buried rock reef. Rainwater seeped down into the cracks in the reef, slowly dissolving the limestone and beginning the process that would form large underground chambers. The exposed reef became part of the Guadalupe Mountains and the underground chambers became the wonder of Carlsbad Cavern.

The decoration of Carlsbad Cavern with stalactites, stalagmites and an incredible variety of other formations began more than 500,000 years ago after much of the cavern had been carved out. It happened slowly, drop by drop, at a time when a wetter, cooler climate prevailed. The creation of each formation depended on water that dripped or seeped down into the limestone bedrock and into the cave. Where water dripped slowly from the ceiling, soda straws and larger stalactites appeared. Water falling on the floor created stalagmites. Sometimes a stalactite and stalagmite joined, forming a column.

Some of the more unusual formations to occur in Carlsbad Cavern are helictites, which grow seemingly without regard to gravity, their twisting shapes governed by crystal shapes, impurities and the force of water under pressure.

Carlsbad Cavern is a sanctuary for about one million Mexican Free-tailed Bats. During the day the bats crowd together on the ceiling of Bat Cave, a passageway near the natural entrance of Carlsbad Cavern. In their darkened home they are seen only by scientific researchers. At nightfall, however, the bats leave the cave in gigantic swarms. Silhouetted against the night sky like a dark, swift-moving cloud, the bats make their most dramatic display.

* Balloon Ballroom – located in the ceiling above the main entrance corridor, this small room was first accessed by tying a rope to a bunch of balloons and floating them up into the passage.
* Bell Cord Room – named for a long, narrow stalactite coming through a hole in the ceiling, resembling the rope coming through a church steeple to ring the bell. This room is located at the end of the Left Hand Tunnel.
* Bifrost Room – discovered in 1982, it is located in the ceiling above Lake of the Clouds. Its name refers to a Norse myth about a world in the sky that was accessed from Earth by a rainbow. The room was given this name because of its location above the Lake of the Clouds and its colorful oxide-stained formations.
* Big Room or The Hall of the Giants – the largest chamber in Carlsbad Caverns, its floor space equals roughly 14 football fields.
* Green Lake Room – the uppermost of the “Scenic Rooms”, it is named for a deep, malachite-colored pool in the corner of the room. In the 1940s, when the military was testing the feasibility of Carlsbad Cavern as an emergency fallout shelter, the Green Lake was used to look for ripples caused by a nuclear bomb test many miles away. None appeared.
* Guadalupe Room – discovered by a park ranger in 1966, this is the second largest room in Carlsbad Caverns. It is known for its dense collection of “soda straw” stalactites.
* Hall of the White Giant – a large chamber containing a large, white stalagmite. Rangers regularly lead special tours to this location.
* King’s Palace – the first of four chambers in a wing known as the “scenic rooms”, it is named for a large castle-like formation in the center of the room.
* Lake of the Clouds – the lowest known point in the cave. It is located in a side passage off the Left Hand Tunnel. It is named for its large lake containing globular, cloud-like rock formations.
* Left Hand Tunnel – a long, straight passage marked by deep fissures in the floor. These fissures are not known to lead anywhere. The Left Hand Tunnel leads to the Lake of the Clouds and the Bell Cord Room.
* Mystery Room – a small room located in Lower Cave.
* New Mexico Room – located adjacent to the Queen’s Chamber and accessed by means of a short slope.
* Papoose Room – located between the King’s Palace and Queen’s Chamber.
* Queen’s Chamber – widely regarded as the most beautiful and scenic area of the cave. Jim White’s lantern went out in this chamber while exploring and was in the dark for over a half hour.
* Spirit World – Located in the ceiling of the Big Room, this area is filled with white stalagmites that resembled angels to the room’s discoverers.
* Talcum Passage – a room located in Lower Cave where the floor is coated with gypsum dust.
* The Rookery – one of the larger rooms in Lower Cave.

Carlsbad Cavern, with one of the world’s largest underground chambers and countless formations, is highly accessible, with both self-guided and a variety of ranger-guided tours offered year round. Visitors can hike into the interior rooms on their own via the natural entrance, or take an elevator (the exit for everyone) directly down into the center of the public cave area.

The park is open year-round except Christmas Day, but the majority of park visitors come during the months of June, July and August, and weekends and holidays. The month with the least visitors is January, and peak visitation typically occurs on the weekends following Memorial Day and the 4th of July. The park entrance is located on US Highway 62/180 approximately 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico.

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