Saturday, July 13, 2019
Today we visited Carlsbad Caverns.
We did the self-guided tour. We did the Natural Entrance Trail plus the Big Room Trail; combined is a 2.5 mile hike.
This is the largest and probably the nicest cavern I’ve toured.
Walking into the Natural Entrance
Swallows have their nests on the sides of the entrance.
Popcorn
We stayed for the sunset flight of the bats. They exit the caverns at sundown. No one is allowed any photography of the event, so we have no pictures to share. They come out a few at a time and then they start a circular swirl and then fly off, by the thousands and thousands!! They keep coming out for at least an hour, it is amazing!
At 9pm we had a Ranger-led moon hike. We saw a rattlesnake on the trail.
And a scorpion
After the hike, we saw another rattlesnake outside the men’s bathroom.
We finally crashed into bed around midnight!!