Anniversary Part 2: Carlsbad Caverns

We were trying to get going early on Saturday morning, and we arrived at the hotel restaurant for breakfast when they opened at 7.  They were a little disorganized.  First, I got coffee but no sweetener, so I spent some time staring longingly at my coffee while trying to flag down the waitress.  Then I got my oatmeal but no fruit until my oatmeal was no longer hot.  Fortunately, Stephen drinks his coffee black and ordered a "normal" breakfast, so he had a better experience.

It was a 40 minute drive to the cavern.  We had several choices of tours.  We could have ridden down in an elevator and taken a guided tour of some of the rooms (the wimpy choice).  We could have signed up for the Spider Cave tour which is four hours long and involves belly-crawling (the crazy choice).  We chose the self-guided tour through the Natural Entrance, which is for those who are fit but not particularly adventurous (no belly-crawling!).  You start at the surface and hike down 750 feet over one and a quarter mile, arriving at the Big Room which takes an additional hour to walk around.  The path is paved and there is a hand rail, but it is very steep with switchbacks, you can't see your feet, and in some places the path is wet. 

The little model at the top is the building we're standing in.  You can see the path we took to get down.

The Natural Entrance in 1926.

Here is the Natural Entrance as it looks today.

Here we go!  Stephen took all the photos in the cavern because he was playing with our new camera.  That's why he's not in any of them.
The temperature was in the 90's when we started out, but very soon after entering the cave it gets markedly cooler.  The cavern is about 56 degrees year-round, with 90% humidity.  The entrance is bombarded with swallows who nest in the rock openings, and at the beginning of our descent there was a strong smell which we later decided was bird poop, because once we were past the swallows' habitat, there was just a neutral, slightly damp odor.  We quickly lost the natural light and had to wait for our eyes to adjust to the dim cavern lighting supplied by electric lights. There are no springs or rivers in the cavern, but there are some pools created by dripping water.  Here's a reflection in one of those pools:

 The formations below are called draperies.

     Stalactites.

 The bubbles of rock on the walls are called popcorn.

 The variations in the colors are caused by minerals in the rock.

 The descent was steep, and our legs got tired of standing on hills when we stopped to admire and take photos.  It was cold, but because of the exertion and the humidity, we were both soon sweaty.   I actually didn't feel cold until we were in The Big Room for a while, walking slowly on mostly level paths.

 The Big Room was spectacular beyond description.

There is a snack bar next to The Big Room, but all food has to be eaten there and nothing but plain water can be taken into any other part of the cavern.  This is to protect the bats from disease.  We carried our water, and didn't eat at the snack bar.  It seems a silly thing to be amazed by after all the spectacular natural beauty in the cavern, but I couldn't believe there was a restroom with flush toilets and running water 750 feet down.  I expected composting toilets and hand sanitizer.  Now how do they pump sewage that far?  Superior engineering. 
We took the elevator back to the surface after exploring The Big Room.  There are other tours given different days of the week, and we would definitely go back and explore more or even do the part we did over again.  It was truly a wondrous experience.