Day Ten: Carlsbad Caverns: 30 miles

Today was a bit of a rest day before our marathon drive back home. We took a short trip to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. These caverns were carved out by a very agressive sulferic acid which dissolved the rock, creating 117 known caves. The biggest of these is called the "big room," which is the size of six football fields. At its highest point, the ceiling is 350 feet above the floor. This is the third largest chamber in North America. The big room is 750 feet beneath the surface. We walked down to it, but then took the elevator back up. The walk from the entrance to the big room was one mile, then the path around the big room was another mile. After our hike around the big room, we took a ranger-guided tour to the lower cave. We got to climb down ropes and ladders wearing helmets with lights! While in lower cave we turned off all the lights and experienced total darkness for about ten minutes. It is amazing that all these beautiful and colorful caves were formed in total darkness, just waiting for us to come down and turn on the lights!

Butterpats at Carlsbad Caverns

Kind of nervous about walking into the natural entrance!

Devil's Spring near the natural entrance

The Whale's Mouth

Standing by the Rock of Ages in the Hall of the Giants

Crystal Springs Dome was one of our favorites

gearing up for our tour of lower cave

Lorien is ready to do some caving! 

Climbing down into Carlsbad's magnificent "Lower Cave"

Mark was our tour guide

These looked like angel wings