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Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Travel to Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southern New Mexico and you'll arrive at a landscape with more than 100 caves, have the opportunity to witness thousands of bats take flight into the Chihuahuan Desert, marvel at the beauty of ancient sea ledges and acid-dissolved limestone, and walk down what's been called “the road to hell.” 

When approaching the main cave, visitors are met by a steep and winding trail that descends into the main cavern. As you walk down the trail, the cavern seems to swallow the daylight, hence the nickname “road to hell.” For those who prefer to walk the “righteous path,” the park’s surface landscape is also home to flowering cactus and desert wildlife within the beautiful, canyon-cut desert of Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Traveler's Choice For: Being amazed at all the "space" underground, bats, geology.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park History

Carlsbad Caverns holds a history that dates back to the prehistoric era, and is one of 300 limestone caves in the southeastern corner of New Mexico, not far from the Texas border. Now, while this doesn’t necessarily mean dinosaurs walked the caverns, the permian reef certainly was home to interesting creatures. These caves were created within a fossil reef laid down by an inland sea that existed about 250 to 280 million years ago.
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