Review of Carlsbad Caverns National Park: Our first national park stop and what a stop it is!
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| Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico |
My wife and myself’s love for all parks began when we brought home our furry companion, Toby, a lovable, playful, and always hungry Pomeranian in 2007. Prior to our fur ball’s arrival to our pack, we rarely walked/hiked parks.
Our usual modus operandi when visiting a beautiful park was to take some photos from a number of scenic overlooks as well as at the entrance to the park where the name of the park would be listed, then go and do the next thing. We would spend most of the time at the park driving around a scenic drive/scenic loop, then go do lunch after around an hour or so at the park.
When Toby arrived, all this changed for us. He made us walk, come rain or shine, as often as 6 times a day. On weekends, we made sure we would walk or hike together, exploring parks. He was instrumental in making us appreciate nature, and for the first time in our lives, we really learned to enjoy the trees surrounding us, enjoy taking in life renewing breaths, and enjoy sitting down together, simply to enjoy natural wonders.
After Toby’s passing, that love for parks he instilled in us, remained with us. Last June, when we visited Acadia National Park in Maine, we made sure we’d carry on our pack’s tradition of exploring and hiking parks. Besides exploring and hiking the Acadia National Park that day, one of the smartest things we did that day was buying the America the Beautiful Pass for $80. America the Beautiful Pass is an interagency pass that allows free entrance to all national parks and federal recreational lands for a period of one year.
Back in June, we vaguely knew we were going to plan for a cross country trip that would cover several national parks, national monuments, and national landmarks. We didn’t really know it would actually be around the end of November when we would begin our epic cross country trip going from North Carolina to California.
After seeing the Gulf Islands National Seashore near Biloxi (MS) during our first stop in our cross country trip, we were ready for more. So, on the morning of the 18th of December, we left our hotel, Fairfield Inn, in downtown San Antonio, for Carlsbad, New Mexico, to visit Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park is located in the Chihuahuan Desert of southern New Mexico, and features more than 100 caves. Ever since my dad took me to Luray Caverns in Virginia, I’ve been fascinated with caves. The bigger they are, the better!
The drive would take about 7 hours from our hotel in downtown San Antonio to our hotel, Post Time Inn, in Carlsbad. To get there, we first took the familiar I-10 heading west, followed by US-285, and it would take a northwesterly direction towards the town of Carlsbad.
US-285 is as straight of a road as we’ve ever driven anywhere, including in Kansas, where I-70 always seems to go straight along the heartland. We remember the town of Salina in Kansas fairly well, thanks to 6+ hours of driving incredibly straight, with nary a turn in sight, as we were making our way back from our first cross country trip from Denver, Colorado. We admit we had a hard time not dozing off when driving that highway…
US-285 was just as hard to drive on as it never seems to veer off in any direction. It just kept on going straight through the oil fields, oil refineries, and oil companies. We’ve never seen so many oil related things, all in one place, in our lifetime. Wow, there’s always something new to discover on road trips…
We arrived around sunset at the city of Carlsbad. We drove through the heart of town where all the shops/restaurants were located, feeling hungry and tired. After checking into our hotel, we decided to eat some Mexican food from a local restaurant, Carniceria San Juan de Los Lagos.
We walked inside to the butcher shop/restaurant and appreciated the laid back vibes of the place with picnic tables and patio lights, mimicking an outside patio. We looked at the menu, but unfortunately everything was in Spanish, and they did not have an English menu.
I used every ounce of Spanish learned from my high school days to order two items: a chicken fajita and shrimp tacos. We picked these up and ate at our hotel. Shrimp tacos were delicious but the chicken fajita was just ok. It didn’t include any of the usual suspects, like sour cream, pico de gallo, or guacamole. I guess it was more an authentic Mexican style, but it wasn’t to my liking…
After digesting our hearty meal, we got ready for bed at the Post Time Inn. The inn was newly renovated and was extremely clean. It even had free breakfast for guests.
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| Post Time Inn, Carlsbad |
The next morning, we got ready to drive over to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, about 20 miles away. After passing Whites City, we got on the Carlsbad Cavern Highway after passing the sign at the entrance.
The Carlsbad Cavern Highway is several miles long, and the drive is fantastic. It takes you to the top of the mountain range with incredible views below. It finally felt like we were in the southwest with its desert setting and sparse vegetation.
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| Carlsbad Cavern Highway, New Mexico |
After visiting the visitor center with its excellent displays about the caves, we waited to ride the elevator down to the caves. The most popular trail besides the Natural Entrance Trail is the Big Room Trail, which is 1.25 mile long and is relatively easy and flat. This was the trail we planned on walking once we got to the bottom.
The elevator ride was short and we were the only ones riding it at that particular time. Once the elevator reached the bottom, we got out to explore the mammoth caverns. We saw what looked like a cafe right across the elevator but which was closed for the season.
We followed the signs for Big Room Trail and started our exploration!
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| At the start of the Big Room Trail |
We looked up to see impossibly high ceilings and felt the hugeness of the caverns. It was unlike anything I’ve seen. I found out that the Big Room is the largest, readily accessible cave chamber in North America, at 8.2 acres! It really felt airy, and not claustrophobic, like in some smaller caves I’ve visited elsewhere.
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| Big Room! |
Along the Big Room Trail, we encountered otherworldly, almost alien landscape of the underworld. Everywhere we looked, we saw something strange, interesting, and totally mind blowing.
We saw stalagmites/stalactites but incredibly huge ones that resembled small boulders. Wow! The seemingly short walk took longer than it should, as we stopped to gawk at so many interesting features, like these below.
We completed our walk of the Big Room Trail after about an hour or so. As usual, it was nearly lunch time, and we were already thinking about food. We checked out the food stand inside the visitor center, but we weren’t in the mood for hot dogs, sandwiches, or burgers, so we headed back towards the town of Carlsbad, where our hotel is located at.
We went to Chili’s in downtown and absolutely devoured the shrimp tacos and shrimp Cajun pasta. It was while eating at Chili’s that we thought quite highly of Chili’s (or similar chain restaurants like it), as we can usually expect similar quality, price, and taste wherever we go. It’s similar to eating at McDonald’s where you know a Big Mac will taste about the same anywhere in the United States.
We were underwhelmed by local restaurants in the 3 weeks we’ve been on the road, as while one dish seemed to taste good, the other dish did not. It was really disappointing to spend close to $45 and have a dish that is just average (or below average) in taste. It just felt like our need to support local restaurants wasn’t returning the bang for the buck as we had hoped.
I remember, pre-Covid, that many local restaurants typically offered good value and something unique. We didn’t mind spending about the same or a bit more to support local restaurants. These days, the prices at local restaurants are in many cases higher and one out of two dishes we order (so far in our current trip) doesn’t taste good on top of that.
Because of these disappointments eating at local restaurants during our first 3 weeks of our cross country trip, we’ve been eating more frequently at Chili’s and at Applebees, whenever we can find one. One other factor that I forgot to mention is this: since we’ve been on the road for the past 3 weeks, we’ve been craving salads. At Chili’s or Applebee’s, we usually get a free side salad when ordering an entree. This has been huge for us, being able to satisfy our need for salads…
In conclusion:
Carlsbad Caverns National Park was exactly what we had imagined. It was both fascinating and beautiful with plenty of incredible sights to view along the way. Even the drive into the park is a treat!
We highly recommend adding this national park to your list of parks to visit in your future travel plans. You won’t be disappointed!
Please hop along for the ride as we continue our 2 and a half month long epic cross country trip from North Carolina to California! Thank you all for reading and happy trails!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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