Carlsbad Caverns - Still Worth It

I was thinking about it, and today marked my fourth visit to the Catlsbad Caverns in about twenty years. And it's been about fourteen years since my last visit. I was excited to see it again, though I knew more or less what I was going to see. But, memories fade. And you can never “cross the same stream twice” as the wise folk used to comment.

So down I went into the depths via the natural entrance. It's the only way to go, if you are capable of it. It’s steep, and winds for about a mile down to the big room.

Cave thoughts:

I like the slowly darkening effect of entering and leaving the twilight zone into the pitch black of the cave. It's a cool thing to experience.

The NPS did well with its low intensity lighting. The trail and features are dimly and subtly lit. It’s dark in there, like a good cave should be.

The NPS also did well to try and keep people quiet. I only heard a liw murmur and often nothing at all. Once in awhile you could hear the quiet “dwip” of a drop of water hitting. The cavern is still growing.

It’s incredibly beautiful. I forgot how magnifcent caves and caverns can be. As the trail wound through the big room, the views just kept getting better.

It's surprisingly balmy down in the depths. I was comfortable in a flannel shirt. Compared to the freezing temperatures gripping the US right now, it was a nice change of pace.

I really want to get off the tourist route and go explore. This cavern is huge, and there is much to see. I’m not a caver though I did a bit in my early twenties.

This is definitely not a difficult or wild walk. It’s your typical spoon fed, over protected, tourist walk through the place, but despite this, it’s still worth seeing. I get it. Thousands of people would destroy it if you let everyone walk wherever, but still…

I had to laugh. The first time I visited, I had a manual film camera and probably some kind of tripod trying to get my shots. Today, I walked about and hand held my phone to take these pictures. They are probably ten times better than my efforts back in the day.

I am really happy I came. Carlsbad Caverns: still great.