Sunset - Carlsbad Caverns National Park

During our September 2021 trip to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, we returned to the park to watch the bat flight and caught a nice sunset while waiting. Filming the bat flight is not allowed as cameras are claimed to interfere with the bat's echolocation sense.

We also participated in the evening "Moon Hike" ranger talk. After meeting at the visitor center entrance, we all drove down the entrance road 1.5 miles to a pullout on the right. After distributing red-lensed flashlights, the two rangers led us 0.4 miles down a gravel road with stops along the way to read stories that I don't recall about the moon. The rangers did a good job of answering questions from the group. Overall, the walk took about an hour. 

El Capitan and Guadalupe Peak

Full moon

Clouds on the horizon

Visitor center with Venus overhead

Some of the last rays of sunlight

Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park is free for all surface activities. An entry fee of $15 per person is valid for three consecutive days to enter the cavern, but visitors must also have a valid reservation (available at recreation.gov). Other fee payment options for up to four people include the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($80 for a lifetime), Access Pass (free with a documented disability), Fourth Grade Pass (free with documentation) and Military Annual Pass (free for active-duty personnel). Ranger-led underground tours have additional fees.

The Carlsbad Caverns  National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm.

Barbary Sheep in Walnut Canyon - Carlsbad Caverns National Park

According to an article by Donna Laing in Issue No. 31 of Carlsbad Caverns National Park newsletter Canyons & Caves dated Winter 2003:

The Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia), a.k.a. aoudad, is native to North Africa. Their indigenous environment ranges from the Atlas Mountains in northwestern Africa eastwards across the arid mountains and canyons of the Sahara Desert to Egypt.

In general, the park service attempts to eradicate non-native or exotic species on its lands. First observed in 1959, as of 2003 there was an estimated herd of about 50 Barbary Sheep in the park. A research report by Novack A and Others: Distribution and abundance of Barbary sheep and other ungulates in Carlsbad Caverns National Park dated 3 November 2009 and originally published at https://www.nature.nps.gov, but now at https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/615994 and also posted online on ResearchGate.net estimated the size of the herd in 2009 at 40 to 50 animals.

The long-term stated goal of the park service is to reintroduce desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni) to both Carlsbad Caverns and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks. One step along the path to that goal is to remove the Barbary sheep. However, efforts to eradicate the animals in the past 60 years seem to have been sporadic and were definitely ineffective. Quoting from the research paper: 

Complete eradication of Barbary sheep from Carlsbad Caverns National Park is perhaps not possible because source populations exist in close proximity, and these sheep are able to disperse long distances.

On our most recent visit to the park in September 2021, we saw our first Barbary sheep on the the slopes of Walnut Canyon above Carlsbad Cavern Highway, the paved park access road. I counted twenty sheep in the next to last picture below.

Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park is free for all surface activities. An entry fee of $15 per person is valid for three consecutive days to enter the cavern, but visitors must also have a valid reservation (available at recreation.gov). Other fee payment options for up to four people include the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($80 for a lifetime), Access Pass (free with a documented disability), Fourth Grade Pass (free with documentation) and Military Annual Pass (free for active-duty personnel). Ranger-led underground tours have additional fees.

The Carlsbad Caverns  National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm.

Natural Entrance View - Carlsbad Caverns National Park

While we didn't have time to hike down the 1¼-mile Natural Entrance Route and hike the 1¼-mile Big Room Route, we took time to walk down to the natural entrance and peer into the big hole in the ground. We visited Carlsbad Caverns National Park during our trip to four national parks in New Mexico and West Texas in September 2021.

The paved path from the visitor center to the natural entrance

Support facilities on the ridge

A closer look at the support facilities

A look back at the visitor center

A flock of birds swarms in the distance

One half of the amphitheater with no view of the entrance

The other half of the amphitheater

A closer look at the natural entrance

Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park is free for all surface activities. An entry fee of $15 per person is valid for three consecutive days to enter the cavern, but visitors must also have a valid reservation (available at recreation.gov). Other fee payment options for up to four people include the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($80 for a lifetime), Access Pass (free with a documented disability), Fourth Grade Pass (free with documentation) and Military Annual Pass (free for active-duty personnel). Ranger-led underground tours have additional fees.

The Carlsbad Caverns  National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm.

Big Room - Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Due to time constraints and my wife's immense unease when underground, we chose to ride the elevator 750 feet down to the Big Room instead of walking in the natural entrance and working our way down the paved 1¼-mile trail to the Big Room. While we missed seeing some unique sections of the cave, we spent a lot less time underground and saw almost all the more well-known features of the cave. Unlike other caves administered by the park service, visitors to Carlsbad are encouraged to explore the cave at their own pace and not as part of a ranger-led tour.

There have been some operational changes due to the global pandemic. Every visitor entering the cavern must have a reservation including children. Reservations cannot be made at the park and must be made at recreation.gov or by calling 877-444-6777. Reservations cost $1 per person. Reservations are time-stamped and will be honored for an hour past the reservation time. For example, if your reservation is for 8:30AM, you have until 9:30AM to enter the cavern either by the natural entrance or the elevators. The reservation is NOT an entry ticket. Those must be purchased at the ticket counter in the visitor center. Once in the cavern, visitors can stay as long as they wish until closing time. Entrance tickets are $15 each for all visitors age 16 and older. 

The Big Room is almost 4,000 feet long, 625 feet wide, and 255 feet high at its highest point. The paved trail around the Big Room trail is 1¼ miles long and should be walked in a counter-clockwise manner. Rangers are stationed at several locations along the path.

Elevator exit

A small alcove along the way to the Big Room

Stainless steel handrails denote the path

Another alcove

Flowstone

Sword of Damocles

The passageway open up into the Big Room

Lion's Tail

Giant Dome and Twin Domes in the Hall of Giants

Temple of the Sun (far right)

A stalactite and a stalagmite have formed a column

Hundreds of soda straws

Looking back at more formations in the Hall of Giants

An unnamed dome near the Shortcut

Totem Pole

A series of stalagmites

Another stalagmite

More formations

Jim White's ladder

View of Lower Cave

Looking down the 625-foot dimension of the Big Room

More features near the "Top of the Cross"

One of several pools in the Big Room

Ceiling at "Top of the Cross"

More flowstone

Incredibly fragile formations

Mirror Lake

Bottomless Pit has a bottom 140 feet down

The domed ceiling above Bottomless Pit

Drapery formation

Trailside formation

Totem Pole from across the Big Room

Gnomish domes in a pool

Another view of the Hall of Giants

The trail wraps around Crystal Spring Dome

Flowstone on the wall

Rock of Ages

Another view of Rock of Ages

The size of the Big Room is difficult to comprehend

More flowstone

The trail snakes its way around the speleothems

Another pool, this one with stone lilypads

Part of the Painted Grotto

More of the Painted Grotto

Viewing a column through a hole in the wall

Dolls Theater

Yet another pool

Heading into the Jim White Tunnel

Flowstone covered in cave popcorn

Chinese Theater

Leaving the Jim White Tunnel heading toward the elevators

Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park is free for all surface activities. An entry fee of $15 per person is valid for three consecutive days to enter the cavern, but visitors must also have a valid reservation (available at recreation.gov). Other fee payment options for up to four people include the America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands passes including the Annual Pass ($80), Senior Pass ($80 for a lifetime), Access Pass (free with a documented disability), Fourth Grade Pass (free with documentation) and Military Annual Pass (free for active-duty personnel). Ranger-led underground tours have additional fees.

The Carlsbad Caverns  National Park website is https://www.nps.gov/cave/index.htm.