Planning a trip to the Underground World of the Carlsbad Caverns

History and Information

History

Jim White was not the first human to enter or discover the massive cave system of Carlsbad Caverns, but he was certainly one of its most avid explorers and promoters.

Native Americans, Mescalero Apache, and Zuni Pueblo all were acquainted with the area and probably entered the dark caverns, but it is unknown how far into the caves they traveled.

Spanish and European settlers and explorers claimed to have discovered and explored a large cave system in the area, but history has long forgotten who any of them were.

In 1898, at the age of 16, Jim White saw a black cloud rising up from a large hole in the ground and discovered it was a huge cloud of thousands of bats exiting the cave. With rope, wire, and lantern in hand, he began a lifetime of exploring the caves below the ground.

Reservations

To enter the Caverns at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, tickets must be purchased in advance online at www.reservation.gov or by calling 877–444–6777. There is no option to purchase tickets at the Visitor Center. If you don’t have an account online, it is required to create one.

Once logged in, I searched for Carlsbad Caverns National Park. There are two tour options available.

Self-Guided Tour

King’s Palace Tour is not available until the beginning of April. The only tour available to us is the Self-Guided Tour. I wouldn’t want the guided tour anyway. It only enters four main areas, but one benefit would be having a knowledgeable guide share valuable information and answer questions.

I love the idea of the self-guided tour anyway because once we enter the cave, we are under no time limit as far as how long we spend down there. I chose 11:30 am hoping to eat lunch at the Historic Underground Lunchroom and have the entire afternoon to explore and take lots of photographs.

Flash photography is allowed, and tripods are allowed. We have explored many caves and caverns over the years, and have never had the freedom to self explore. I have always felt rushed to snap photos quickly so as not to back up the line or be in the way of other visitors behind me. When I return home, most of my photos are blurry.

Entry Times

Entry times are based on a 60-minute window beginning with the start time selected. For example, we selected an 11:30 am reservation time, so we must enter the cave between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm. After 12:30 pm we have lost our time slot. There is no time limit after entering the cavern in regards to time spent exploring. The last entry is available until 2:30 pm. No reservations can be made for the same day after 5:00 am Mountain Time.

There are two choices for the Self-Guided Tour — either by elevator, hiking, or both. Visitors may choose to hike the steep one and a quarter mile paved trail entering through the cavern’s Natural Entrance, leading into the spectacular one and a quarter mile Big Room Trail and then may exit by either avenue, hiking or elevator. Or, one can simply take an elevator ride from the visitor center directly to the start of the Big Room Trail.

We will take the elevator both ways. We spoke with neighbors in the campground who are much younger than us, maybe late 30’s. They said the trail through the Natural Entrance (shown on the right side of this model) is steep and difficult, and it was hard for even them. Yep, I am opting for the elevator which is the long clear tube — both ways.

Once I chose which tour I wanted, I then had to choose how many adults and/or children tickets I needed. The cost was $1.00 each. I had to choose a time slot between 8:30 am, 9:30 am, 10:30 am, 11:30 am, 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm, or 2:30 pm. It stated exactly how many tickets remained available for that time.

The website required me to enter charge card information and it did charge $1 per person, which is non-refundable if we cannot make it or do not show up.

Our reservations are for Monday, March 6, 2023 at 11:00 am Mountain Time.

True or False

Let’s learn a little bit about the caves before we go…

Nothing lives in the caves. This is False — Brazilian free-tailed bats spend their summers roosting in the cave. I am sad that there are no bats in the cave in March. We were told they do not return until the beginning of May. I was looking forward to seeing the bats. Cave Swallows nest inside the Natural Entrance of the cave, which we probably won’t see either. And cave crickets and microbes live in the cave year round.

It gets completely dark in the caves. This is True — no sunlight at all penetrates the cavern. The Big Room is lighted for the safety of visitors. If you take the guided tour, the rangers allow you to experience total darkness when they shut off the lights. Can you imagine first finding and exploring caves and caverns such as this centuries ago by only candlelight?

The water in the cave is good to drink. This is False! Centuries ago it might have been. But today, pollution from above seeps into the cavern and enters the water system. And sadly, visitors throw coins and even trash into the pools of water below.

It is always the same temperature in the cavern. This is False. Even though the temperature remains relatively stable, it does vary slightly. The sign in the visitor center stated that the temperature in the cavern was 56 degrees Farenheit. Each day the sign will post the day’s temperature. It mostly remains in the 50’s (12–13 degrees Celcius). I am wearing long pants, a sweater and a jacket, and wearing socks and good tennis shoes.

Preparing a Backpack

Yes, I am preparing a small backpack today for our excursion tomorrow. I plan to include two small flashlights with new batteries inserted, two bottles of unopened water, my asthma inhaler, hand sanitizer, kleenex, and of course a notebook and pen.

I look forward to tomorrow and writing about our excursion. I hope you look forward to reading about it.