Our visit to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park was one of the most memorable and exciting experiences of the entire trip. The more than 100 limestone caves within Carlsbad Caverns are outstanding and notable world-wide because of their size and the abundance, diversity and beauty of the decorative rock formations within. The lagest cave, called "Big Room", is accessible by hiking down a 1-mile trail with a vertical drop of 750 ft (230 m). It is about 4,000 ft (1.200 m) long and 255 ft (78 m) high at the highest point. An almost 2-mile long boardwalk along the perimeter offers incredible vistas to hundreds of phantastic crystal and rock formations. As I said on other occasions before, photos can only begin to give an idea how impressive these caverns are - nothing matches the live experience.
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| On the hike down |
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| Entrance to the cavern |
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| In the "Big Room" |
By the way - picture taking down in the cavern is rather challenging: The caves are only dimly lit, requiring exposure times of 30 - 60 seconds and, consequently, a solid support for the camera (next time I am going to bring a tripod!). And the built-in flash carries to a distance of 10 ft. maximum.
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| This formation is called "Whale Mouth" |
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| The "Chinese Theater" |
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| Another area in the Big Room |
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