What an incredible place!!

Carlsbad Caverns. Wow, just wow! First of all, the $1 I paid online was the cost of our reservation, not our ticket. With my “magic wand” (Senior Pass), our ticket was $0. This amazing place was worth twice the price!

The reservation system worked well to limit the number of people in the cave system. Once our 11:30 am group got halfway down the so-called “natural entrance”, we had all dispersed. Wanda and I seemed to have the cavern all to ourselves to wander at will.

Wanda and I have enjoyed many nice caves and caverns, but this is the granddaddy of them all. Although Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is longer, 400 miles vs. 30 miles, Carlsbad Caverns’ massively large rooms packed with beautiful formations gets the nod as far as breathtaking goes.

And those formations: stalagmites, stalactites, soda straws, drapes, popcorn, pearls, etc. The subtle colors bathed in the subtle lighting made it all kind of deliciously eerie. I could on and on, but I will let the photos take over.

The entrance tunnel is 1.25 miles as it descends 754’ into the bowels of the Guadeloupe Mountains. It is basically a beautiful cave in its own right. The self-guided tour of the massive cavern rooms is another 1.25 miles. We cheated and took the elevator back to the top. In all, we spent over 3 hours exploring.

CORRECTION: Prickly Pears are not the thorny skeleton plants I originally stated. Instead, they are the cacti with the round thorny pads, and Babs was right, they are good eating. We had some Prickly Pear jelly candy. It was terrific.

Dave and Wanda

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