Carlsbad Caverns National Park by generikat

life · @generikat · Jan 29 '20

$2.32

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

<center>A Photographic Stroll Through One Of The Most Wondrous Sites Ever: Part One</center>
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![IMG_5797 (2).JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQme3vvySTfwz2Un1ArBfyPht5nvYRiatn7PuKyAYoUY51y/IMG_5797%20(2).JPG)


Last winter at about this time on the calendar, our family took off on a massive road trip to explore the southwestern USA. Now, I had good intentions regarding blog posting most of my trip, and did indeed make a few posts while in transit, but then the great diesel engine blow up experience happened, a dramatic thing indeed, and that event stretched into a saga that derailed my posting of our experiences. And so goes life!

That said, I honestly cannot even remember if I posted about our wandering through Carlsbad Caverns in southern New Mexico, but the place is so dang cool that I am going to post about it now! 

![IMG_5781.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmQJZjofuAVnf78NR6NPUkpiBDwnxqdRdh6rGdyj37iWZQ/IMG_5781.JPG)

Carlsbad Caverns National Park is located in the middle of nowhere in Southeastern New Mexico. It's a huge limestone cavern that is so spectacular that it draws visitors from all over the planet. My first thought as we drove up the windy paved road in the middle of the desert toward the entrance to the cavern was to chuckle at just how remote the place is.  When you reach the end of the winding paved road and arrive at the National Park Service visitor center, your eyes are greeted with a scene that reminded me of an international airport, there will be quite literally people from all over the planet checking out the caverns when you visit. I heard a plethora of languages, especially the universal one, the gasps of delighted awe.

![IMG_5785.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmP97KJVyN5j3VdRJ8JnhMAXLso3wkrcH6EfVkTLsp3GzB/IMG_5785.JPG)

It's fifteen dollars to visit the caverns, which is in my opinion a fantastic deal. You have the option of hiking down to the Big Room, or riding the elevator. The Big Room is a huge expanse of cavern geologic delight. Stalactites and Stalagmites of all the limestone varieties are everywhere you look, and I cannot emphasize the vastness of the place. One thing that stuck in my brain was one of the rangers telling us that The Big Room is three football fields from end to end in size.

![IMG_5789.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmYTRHRCuUwQYC66PpegtaWRFHcCdZeTuH7fUiFMV3rJFa/IMG_5789.JPG)

It takes at least and hour and a half to walk the paved trail down to The Big Room, and if you are able, I totally recommend the descent. As you walk along the path from the visitor center to the cavern entrance you spy this big gaping black maw of into the earth beckoning. Surrounding the entrance is an amphitheater that people can perch in for some bat watching, apparently there is quite a bat show during part of the year. 

![IMG_5792.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVb3jx1bRuCUXWgr92nfxvH7jDYZfqs3dDqZDXgjN4Tnz/IMG_5792.JPG)

Me though, I was there for the spelunking, and as we dropped into the Earth I felt the delightful feeling of atmospheric change and my nose was tickled by the slightly musty smell that accompanies going under the ground. The Cavern's air is actually pretty great thanks to a whole bunch of scientific reasons, and let me tell you, the Park Service has a masterful program running that immerses you into the whole Cavern looking experience. We had one of those pocket docent devices that explained things about the cavern as you walked by interpretive sites. The lighting was just masterful, it was done in a way that you could enjoy the sites of the cave without being glaring or obnoxious to the ecosystem in any way.

![IMG_5799.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmWkCqzKVdYbLAcazf3ZLQHFVc2vxg7YLddqid6PQgxzqq/IMG_5799.JPG)

Deeper and deeper into the earth we went, winding down the asphalt path. Apparently people went down into the cavern in guano harvesting buckets when tours of the caverns first began, and I am not going to lie, that sounds like an awesome time! I would love to careen into a massive cave in a wooden bucket! 

Walking down into the mineral wonderland wasn't too shabby though, just look at all the magnificent sites we got to take in!:

![IMG_5804 (2).JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmPFcJpZ2ruUMJ62x8mbYrtpiwUbkWX82xQSdqcLS3an3W/IMG_5804%20(2).JPG)

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![IMG_5809.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmaj4Ece7SjyTjwaJjAXaE4EADnsTXrDEz4JWpXgtzt5Ud/IMG_5809.JPG)

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![IMG_5811.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVTfkZ5Lf4dn3s7ThvoZZgCPxSuWe6CMmwTFPz8wYeBw2/IMG_5811.JPG)

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![IMG_5826 (2).JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmXAtEdtUDv36nN7fQn2Z51od9xWyuFEHVNendbqHL49Zz/IMG_5826%20(2).JPG)

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![IMG_5830.JPG](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmY4e874p6vah6rhbBhWbUyF9LHgsKax6S6pNycSZPqE8z/IMG_5830.JPG)

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<center>In my next post I will show you the sites of The Big Room and share my thoughts on the elevator ride!</center>

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<center>*And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's still squeeing like an enthralled infant over that experience iPhone.*</center>

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👍 pfunk, aicu, ripperone, spectrumecons, m31, mangos, jacobtothe, exyle, haphazard-hstead, karja, generikat, gerber, ctime, daan, dlike, ddschteinn, steem.leo, daycrypter, lion200, heidimarie, michelios, blockbrothers, jamjamfood, gwilberiol, flemingfarm, accelerator, leo.voter, trufflepig, qurator, freddio.sport, chops316, creatr, scribblingramma, bestboom, kaylinart, simplymike, mapxv, trailreward, creativeblue, triptolemus, toocurious, fsm-liquid, cadawg, therealyme, crowbarmama, maxuve, voter001, voter002, piotrgrafik, lydon.sipe, itharagaian, djennyfloro, bluesniper, suzique, katamori, vannour, lextenebris, primeradue, gregory-f, cryptouru, triplea.bot, uthus2k, maxuvc, maxuvb, and 25 others

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@creatr · Jan 29 '20

One of my most favorite places in the *universe,* so far...

I've only been there once (1980) but CC is one of those extremely rare things that *far exceeded* my wildest imagination (and, believe me, I have a *pretty big* imaginer...!)

I was touring it with wife and two kids, and they had to keep dragging me along. I think it took us four hours to get through because dad was dawdling all the way... I *so* want to go back!

Thanks for sharing your photos and story. Caves! Caverns! Spelunking! Yeah!!! <3

😄😇😉
<a href="https://steemit.com/a/@creatr/b" target="_blank">
  <img src="https://steemitimages.com/DQmWvzuqZ51DoiSjXXf8bukb7JeeVV1eAJJhGBkDiYc8ajj/creatr_ap.gif" alt="@creatr" style="border:0;">
</a>

👍 generikat

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@generikat · Jan 31 '20

Ooh, I so agree with you about it being one of the best places ever! I am going to have to go back, because I just don't feel like three and a half hours in there was long enough for me, lol! I salute you fellow dawdler and hope you get to return sooner rather than later, because CAVES! LOL!

👍 creatr

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@creatr · Feb 1 '20

Yeah,
<center><H1>*CAVES!*</H1></center>

for sure!

👍 generikat

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@trufflepig · Jan 30 '20

**Congratulations!** Your post has been selected as a daily Steemit truffle! It is listed on **rank 4** of all contributions awarded today. You can find the [TOP DAILY TRUFFLE PICKS HERE.](https://steemit.com/@trufflepig/daily-truffle-picks-2020-01-30) 
    
I upvoted your contribution because to my mind your post is at least **4 SBD** worth and should receive **251 votes**. It's now up to the lovely Steemit community to make this come true.

I am `TrufflePig`, an Artificial Intelligence Bot that helps minnows and content curators using Machine Learning. If you are curious how I select content, [you can find an explanation here!](https://steemit.com/steemit/@trufflepig/weekly-truffle-updates-2020-04)
    
Have a nice day and sincerely yours,
![trufflepig](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/SmokinCaterpillar/TrufflePig/master/img/trufflepig17_small.png)
*`TrufflePig`*

👍 generikat

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@scribblingramma · Feb 1 '20

Nope, I don't think you posted about this before! I don't know if I could go in there, though, due to claustrophobia.

👍 generikat

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@generikat · Feb 2 '20

Weird, so I know that I replied to you, but alas I must have been distracted and hit the wrong button or something. LOL! 

All that my reply encompassed was that I would totally understand how claustrophobia would put a damper on cavern enjoyment and such. It is super large and grandiose in scope in CC's though, so you don't ever feel cramped, in fact I felt more cramped in the elevator than I did in the cavern!

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