Carlsbad Caverns

Entering the caverns of Carlsbad is like entering another world. Take the path underneath where the black bats fly out at night, and follow the natural entrance down, your eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness. It would be completely pitch black in fact, if it weren’t for the artificial lights that make the various insane formations show up like ghosts in the night. Stalactites and stalagmites start appearing almost immediately. And the further down you go, the larger, taller, bumpier, drippier, and more wild they become. It’s hard to take a good picture in Carlsbad Caverns. And it’s hard to explain what entering this place is really like. It doesn’t feel like home…but it doesn’t necessarily feel alien, either. Walk about these formations, come up with your own silly names for some of your favorites, and remind yourself that two things made this: water dripping, and earth drying. These two things created this majesty. And then before you take the elevator back up to the mainland, remind yourself everything you’re witnessing is all underground, where the temperature stays the same year round, and the sun never shines.