20 October – Carlsbad

Carlsbad Caverns today. The Caverns were discovered by a 16 year old cowboy called Jim White who was out riding the range one evening and saw what he assumed was clouds of black smoke. On investigating he observed hundreds of thousands of bats flying up and out of a cave mouth. As he watched, it occurred to him that if there were so many bats living in it, the cave must be huge. He returned later with a home-made ladder and began exploring the cave by candle light. Amazed by what he saw, he told people but nobody believed him until he persuaded a photographer to take a trip down with him and record some of what they saw. By that stage Jim had explored quite a bit of the cave and became its first tour guide. They also mined bat guano from the cave for around 20 years until it was declared a national park. The park has expanded and now protects over 100 cave systems.

We started with a self-guided tour into the cave via the natural entrance. The path switch backed back and forth as we descended 800 ft into the cave. As we dropped below the opening we could really smell the bats, it’s a distinctive smell!

The cave was really beautiful. Lots of limestone formations – stalactites and stalagmites, drapery, and cave popcorn.

After we had completed the descent and were in the depths of the cave we did a ranger led tour of the most spectacular sections of the cave system. That was very well done and included the obligatory ‘lights out’ bit where we all sat in the pitch blackness. So dark there was just nothing.

They have a cafeteria, souvenir shop, bathrooms and elevators in the caves. All the mod cons.

We then did a final self guided tour of the Big Room. That was amazing. At one point we overlooked the lower cave via a deep drop. At another point we saw ropes going up to the ceiling many meters up – they use them to access another part of the cave system above the main sections (that is a bit scary).

 

On dusk we went back to the cave entrance to watch the bats coming out. That was pretty special to see. Swallows also live in the cave and to start with we saw them circling around and diving down into the entrance. As dusk approached the bats started coming out. They circle around clockwise, rising higher and higher until the reach the top of the cliff and spill out into the free air and fly away. They really do look like clouds of smoke. So many of them. It was a great ending to a fabulous day.