National Parks
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
We spent a half day here on our West Texas road trip. Follow the link to learn how to visit 4 national parks in a week!
What to know before visiting Carlsbad NP:
- During the pandemic, tickets are limited to 1,000 visitors per day available on first-come, first-serve basis (last ticket sold at 2:15p)
- You have the option of taking the elevator or hiking the Natural Entrance Trail 1.25 mi down into the cave (bring hiking poles and shoes if you choose to hike as you will be walking many switchbacks). We recommend saving your calories for hiking at nearby Guadalupe Mountains and taking the elevator down to the Big Room.
- Special ranger tours and evening bat flight viewing at the amphitheater are also suspended during the pandemic
- There are also a few trails here above ground to explore, but we recommend heading to Guadalupe Mountains NP (only 30 min away) for some more exciting hikes
- Make sure to check out the exhibits inside the visitor center. There’s a lot of interesting information about the formation of the caverns and the bats that call it home!
THE BIG ROOM
The Big Room Trail is the main feature of Carlsbad NP. At 1.25 miles it takes about 1.5 hours to walk through and features stops at cool exhibits with descriptions. Check out some of our photos from the Big Room below.
The small museum inside includes a video about the caverns 
A replica of the topography of the caverns shows its sheer sie 
The Natural Entrance trail begins at the visitor center 
Read more about our High Yield West Texas road trip , National Parks
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