Spring 2024 Southwestern Swing, 4.01.24 - 5.06.24, Part 2, Carlsbad Caverns
After spending the first ten days of April getting to Texas and seeing the solar eclipse, it was time to move on to other adventures. We drove 404 miles from Fredericksburg to our next campsite near Carlsbad Caverns. Mostly I-10, but then we headed northwest on 285 north. That stretch of road was really ugly. Nothing but refineries and an amazing amount of tires and bits of shredded tires all along both sides of the road. Turning west at Orla on 652 was better and when we hit 62 we made it to New Mexico. A short way up the highway and then a turnoff down a .7 mile bumpy but easily doable dirt road put us at Sunset Reef Campground. I’m not a big fan of first come, first serve camping. It works for a lot of people but I get nervous not knowing if I can find a site or not. Sunset Reef is a free campground with five RV sites and six tent sites that have covered picnic tables and grills. It’s all dry camping (no hookups) but there is a vault toilet on site. It is convenient to Carlsbad Caverns and sounded better than most of the alternatives so we just drove in hoping to find a spot. All the covered spots were gone but there was plenty of room on the outside perimeter fencing so we just parked there and it was fine. I’d say within an hour or two, the rest of the space was all filled up so I’m glad we got there when we did.
Sunset Reef Campground
We took the Jeep fourteen miles to the Carlsbad Caverns Visitor Center to have a look see. We had a ticket to hike into the caverns via the natural entrance but had failed in my attempt to get a ticket for the guided King’s Palace tour. Those went on sale several months before and even though I was clicking my date the instant they went on sale, it was sold out that first millisecond. I read they issued twelve walk-up tickets per day so I wanted to make sure I knew exactly where to stand to get in line the next morning.
Meanwhile, I looked around the gift shop. I had been to Carlsbad Caverns in 1966. At that time, I got a really cool sandstone box with a carved diorama of the caverns inside. On the top they had openings that were covered in colored cellophane. By placing it under a desk lamp, the light shone through the cellophane and lit up the interior of the diorama. I loved that thing and kept it for many years before it finally disintegrated. Anyway, no one had ever heard of this thing. I guess I wasn’t surprised as it had been fifty-eight years! Just for grins, we also stopped on our way back at a cheesy gift shop in White’s City and lo and behold, they had a whole shelf of them in various colors of cellophane! I got one with yellow cellophane to give the cave cutout a more natural look. Made my day!
Gift shop bonus
The next morning we were parked and in line at 6:15AM. There were only three other people in front of us and none of them were trying to get a ticket for the King’s Palace tour so I knew we were golden. The tickets went on sale at 8AM and by then there was a huge line of at least a hundred people halfway down the sidewalk so it really paid to get there super early. So now we had an 8:30AM timed entry ticket to the Natural Entrance self-guided tour and a 12:30PM ticket to the guided King’s Palace tour. We were set.
The main hub inside Carlsbad Caverns is 754’ lower than the entrance. You can take an elevator down but it is more scenic and interesting to hike down into the caverns via the Natural Entrance. It is a 1.25 mile hike that switchbacks down into the darkness and past numerous cool looking rock formations. Just when you think you might be done it keeps descending. It is the equivalent of hiking down a seventy-five story building.
Natural Entrance to Carlsbad Caverns
Looking back up towards the entrance from inside
Continuing further down. Photo courtesy of Bridgit.
Once we reached the bottom and the end of the descent trail we were at a junction. At this junction is the bottom of the elevator, restrooms, a restaurant (closed) and several trail junctions. As part of our self guided tour, we opted to hike through the 1.2 mile Big Room loop. Until you experience this place, it is hard to grasp just how huge the interior of Carlsbad Caverns is. I mean, it is gigantic! We followed the paved trail through the Big Room loop and it was fascinating. Stalagmites, stalactites, draperies, columns and every kind of crazy shape you could imagine. They also did a great job with the lighting. Tripods are allowed on this particular hike and I experimented with various settings on my camera and with my iPhone.
By the time we finished the Big Room loop we still had an hour before the King’s Palace tour so we went up the elevator and took my tripod and good camera back to the Jeep since tripods aren’t allowed on the King’s Palace tour. Then we went back down the elevator to where the tour starts. The King’s Palace tour had twenty people and they take you even deeper into the caverns to places you can’t go without a guide. This tour brought us up closer to various columns and rock features and a couple of really cool looking rooms, one being the King’s Palace and the other the Queen’s Chamber. We only went a mile and I thought the guide did a little too much gabbing along the way to kill time but it was definitely worth four bucks. All in all we hiked four miles total and saw a ton of cool stuff.
Carlsbad Caverns
Carlsbad Caverns
Carlsbad Caverns
Carlsbad Caverns
Carlsbad Caverns
Carlsbad Caverns
It was a heavenly eighty degrees back at the campground and we basked in the sunshine. We grilled up some chicken thighs, gorged on more leftover pie and even gave a half a pie to the people from Kansas parked next to us. I thought two nights was plenty to see Carlsbad Caverns without feeling rushed. Now it was time to move on to the next leg of our trip.