Carlsbad Caverns National Park

One park on top of another

Park entrance at Whites City

Carlsbad Caverns National Park entrance is located in the town of Whites City only 24 miles south of Carlsbad. Whites City was first established by Charles White in the 1920’s to welcome visitors to the nearby Carlsbad Caverns. The park was not designated as a National Park until 1930. In 2010, the population of Whites City was only 7. In 2020, the population grew to 85.

Today, as we turned on Carlsbad Cavern Highway 7, Whites City resembled a reasonable area of stores and gift shops trying to entice all the park visitors into their establishments. It was not the least bit tacky or touristy. Well, except for the martians.

I didn’t expect to see martians until we went North to Roswell. That should be an interesting adventure to write about, don’t you think?

Carlsbad Caverns National Park is located in the Chihuahuan Desert in the Guadalupe Mountains. We drove the road into the park and stopped at the first exhibit pull off. As I took pictures of the surrounding views, Rich quickly pointed to the top of the mountain and said “Look, Big Horns!”

I’m like, “Where? Where? I don’t see them!”

He said, “Oh, man. They’re gone!”

He went to the car and got the binoculars. We sat at the picnic table and stayed in the area for about a half an hour scouring the mountainside for Big Horn Sheep with no luck.

Walnut Canyon

The second exhibit pull off area was a short walk through Walnut Canyon to an ancient rock shelter that was a gathering site for ancient Indians.

The desert may seem harsh, but from ancient times, Indians roamed this area and survived off the plants and animals of the land. In the photo above, there is a small pool of water at the base of the cliff straight ahead.

The walking path trail is only 1/8 mile long past a small pool of water in the stream bed, and ending at the small cave shelter used by the ancient Indians. It was mainly the Mescalero Apaches who lived in this particular area. There are ashes and charcoal markings on the cave ceiling and walls. Rocks broken by heat, pieces of bone, and flint have all been found in this cave.

This type of cave shelter was nature’s way of providing for humans in ancient times. They were shallow cave like openings at the bottom of a high cliff. Some much deeper than the one shown below.

Walking to this area is easy. How exciting it is to walk in the same area where prehistoric humans lived. Imagine if these natural shelters were all we had to protect us from weather and wildlife today.

The road curves and travels up the mountain to the top of Walnut Canyon where there is another walkway to the very tip of the cliff. This short trail is only 500 feet long.

Once at the top, as you look down into the canyon, you can clearly see where large boulders have fallen from the cliffside and blocked what used to be other shallow cave shelters. All walking and driving trails in this area were closed.

Visitor Center

Finally, the road reaches the Carlsbad Caverns Visitor Center. We discovered that reservations are required to enter the caverns and the only way to make reservations is online at www.recreation.gov or by calling 877–444–6777. Online it will cost us $1 each to reserve our tickets and time, but when we show up for the tour we will show them our National Park Pass and we will not have to pay the full price of $15 per person.

The visitor center is made up of a gift shop and cafe, and museum and theater, and a book store. We wandered around, watched the short film and purchased a few things in the book store.

We found out that the Walnut Canyon Desert Drive shown by the gray road above in the red circle I drew, and several Backcountry trails are currently closed due to flooding. As of today, this was all we could drive so we headed back out the way we came in. The map above does not show the black road from Whites City to the Visitor Center but it is all I could find.

The black road of 418 to Rattlesnake Springs will be another days adventure.

Big Horn Sheep

As we headed back out of the park, we decided to stop at the first exhibit pull off to eat our picnic lunch. Remember, that’s where Rich said he saw Big Horn Sheep. So, there we sit, eating sandwiches and watermelon, when what to our wandering eyes should appear, but four Big Horn Sheep, on the other side of the road.

I took this photo while sitting on the picnic table from the earlier photo. I am still like, where, where, I don’t see them. Believe me, they are there. There are four large Big Horn Sheep in this photo. Rich has eyes like a hawk. Zoom in and you might be able to find them. Focus right in the center between the car and Rich, in the lower half of the mountain.

These are the best I could zoom in with my iphone. We stayed in the area and watched them for a long time as they moved across the mountain side. Seeing wildlife in the wild made our day. There is nothing quite like it.

Stay tuned as we will be going back for the Cavern adventure and the drive to Rattlesnake Springs. We also want to drive this road again at dusk to see if more wildlife is out and about. We hear there are Pronghorn Deer in the park as well as Big Horn Sheep.

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