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Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Photo: National Park Service / Public domain · source

🕳️ Caves

Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Carlsbad, NM · Guadalupe Mountains, Chihuahuan Desert

About

Carlsbad Caverns drops visitors into a hidden world beneath the New Mexico desert, where a self-guided trail winds through the Big Room, the largest single cave chamber in North America at over 8 acres. Stalagmites, soaring columns, and delicate formations fill the dim, cool dark. From spring through October, hundreds of thousands of Brazilian free-tailed bats spiral out of the natural entrance at dusk in one of the country's great wildlife spectacles.

Highlights

The Big Room, North America's largest accessible cave chamber at over 8 acresEvening bat flight: 400,000-plus Brazilian free-tailed bats emerge spring through OctoberSelf-guided descent through the Natural Entrance past towering formationsHome to Lechuguilla Cave, one of the longest and deepest caves in the U.S.Constant cool 56-degree temperature underground year-round

Getting there

727 Carlsbad Caverns Highway, Carlsbad, NM 88220

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