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Carlsbad Caverns National Park

 

Carlsbad Caverns National Park has no campgrounds within its boundaries (although you are welcome to do wilderness backpack camping with a free permit). Because of that, we decided to combine this trip west with a baptism trip west. So, after spending a few days in Montana for Adam's baptism, we flew into El Paso, Texas - the nearest major airport - and rented a car to drive the 150 miles to Carlsbad, New Mexico - the nearest major city to the park - and stayed in a hotel. Interestingly, we had to drive by next year's park to reach this year's, because El Paso and Guadalupe Mountains National Park are west of Carlsbad Caverns (and therefore further from our home)!

Because of damage caused by flooding a few years ago, several of the things we wanted to do were unavailable - like the trails off of the dirt Walnut Canyon Desert Drive. Maybe we'll come back when the road's repaired; maybe not. However, we were able to hit the major highlights of the park.

  1. Big Room Trail
  2. Natural Entrance Trail 
  3. Ranger-led Cave Tour - King's Palace
  4. Rattlesnake Springs Picnic Area
  5. Bat Flight Program

In addition to the above, we filled our week with the following activities and thoroughly enjoyed each one of them.


Note: Here's a great (but apparently out-of-print) brochure describing the cavern trails.


We have a book about national parks that includes recommendations of restaurants that are close to each park. We thought it would be fun to try one of them for dinner one day after hiking. Unfortunately, two of them were only breakfast and lunch places, and the third one was out of business. Instead, we tried the #1 recommendation from a couple of travel sites - Yellow Brix Restaurant. It was pretty good, and a nice change from hot dogs and chili in our hotel room!

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