This is our third visit to the Carlsbad Caverns and it turned out to be the best yet. There is so much to see once you get down into the caverns.



You can get into the caverns one of two ways: Once, you can descend via the elevator....750 feet down! ...or Two, you can walk down via the Natural Entrance, down as far as an 80 story building. We did both. The walk down took us around and hour-and-three-quarters.





 

 The elevator...well...it dropped us down in about a minute.

There really is no way to show the hugeness?, bigness?, enormousness? of this place. Once you step out of the elevator, you walk into a quiet place. The cafeteria and gift shop are in front of you (naturally). Then, you walk down a path about a hundred yards through some low ceilings...maybe 20 feet and into The Big Room. That's when it hits you how large this cavern is. The room is over 30,000 square yards in total size. This figure seems a bit abstract but, using the analogy of football fields, the massive size of this room is easy to understand. In this underground chamber, one could build six football fields and have room to spare.

You walk around the perimeter, using hearing devices to know what you are looking at (for a small fee, of course).




 
 One of the most amazing facts is how long it takes to "grow" the stalactites and stalagmites. Here's an excerpt from the web:
This solution travels through the rock until it reaches an edge and if this is on the roof of a cave it will drip down. When the solution comes into contact with air the chemical reaction that created it is reversed and particles of calcium carbonate are deposited.An average growth rate is 0.13 mm (0.0051 inches) a year. The quickest growing stalactites are those formed by fast-flowing water rich in calcium carbonate and carbon dioxide, these can grow at 3 mm (0.12 inches) per year.

...and some of these are over 50 feet tall !
















If you do decide to go here sometime in your lifetime, take a few days when you're there to totally explore the place, then sign up for a couple of ranger tours and, most important of all, take some good flashlights. You can see so much more using a flashlight because it's pretty dark in some places.

Hope you enjoy this quick overview of Carlsbad Caverns.