Carlsbad Caverns

 I remember visiting Carlsbad Caverns when I was a kid. It made quite an impression and I was excited to bring Niall to visit.

It’s pretty incredible to take the elevator down, down, down and explore these ancient caves. It’s dark, chilly, and otherworldly.

The caves were created by sulfuric acid dissolving limestone rock. About 250 million years ago, the limestone was part of a reef complex on the edge of an inland sea. 17-20 million years ago, these ancient reef rocks started to rise up because of tectonic forces. Erosion wore away softer minerals and the ancient reef rock became the Guadalupe Mountains. Sulfuric acid was created from brine deep in the basin combining with rainwater. This acid dissolved the limestone, creating cave passages.

As the Guadalupe Mountains continued to rise up, water drained out of the cave, leaving minerals on the ceiling, walls, and floors. We know these as cave decorations

During our visit, I kept thinking of the movie The Dark Crystal.

We had fun forming what we called “stalactite and stalagmite hands” (photo below).

Stalactites and stalagmites are known as speleothems, or cave decorations. The carrot-like ones that cling to the ceiling and hang down are stalactites. The ones that grow up from the floor are stalagmites. There are also a lot of different formations that don’t fit in these two categories – draperies, columns, soda straws, popcorn, and helictites.

This ladder (above) was the way that early explorers ventured into the lower cave.

It’s pretty mind-blowing to think that this limestone rock is full of ocean fossil plants and animals from when this area was a coastline.

There is so much to do in New Mexico. We had a lot of good ideas and it was a little hard to narrow it down. I’m glad we decided to visit this spot. It’s like nowhere else I’ve ever been.