Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

On Thursday morning when I mapped out my route to the White Sands National Monument from Fort Stockton, I realized that Carlsbad was on the way. So I impulsively decided I must stop at Carlsbad Caverns. As I started driving west, I realized I was also gaining an hour, so I felt pretty confident about being able to jam both Carlsbad Caverns and the White Sands into one day. I mean, it’s only about 470 miles… Peanuts!

And I am SO glad I went to Carlsbad Caverns. Now, just to set some context, I do have caving experience so I had something to compare this against. But as I started descending into the cave, I realized why THIS cave is a National Park, versus the dinky one I went to in Switzerland. This cave totally blew my mind! It just kept going, and going, and going. I could have spent all day and night there.  Even though there were other people in the cave, there were moments where it was so quiet you could hear the silence. You cavers out there, you know what I’m talking about.

I also went sort of photo crazy. I had to stop like every 10 feet to take another shot. Luckily, I had my awesome tri-pod Yosef got me (there is your shout out) and I got some pretty cool pictures, check them out here! But still, photos cannot capture the vast impressive space that nature has created underground. It was just incredible!

I gave myself a deadline of 12:30 PM to get out of the cave so I could hit the road and get to the White Sands before the sun set.

Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico

Inside the Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico