Carlsbad Caverns National Park is a United States National Park located in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park for most visitors is the show cave, Carlsbad Caverns. Visitors to the cave can hike in on their own via the natural entrance, or take the elevator (the exit for everyone) directly down to the Underground Lunchroom some below.

The park has two entries on the National Register of Historic Places: The Caverns Historic District and the Rattlesnake Springs Historic District^[1]. Approximately two thirds of the park has also been set aside as a wilderness area, helping to ensure no future changes will be made to the habitat.

Peak visitation typically occurs on the weekends following Memorial Day and the 4th of July. The park entrance is located on US Highway 62/180 approximately 18 miles (29 km) southwest of Carlsbad, New Mexico. The park participates in the Junior Ranger Program.^[2]

Geology

For detail on the area's geology, see Delaware Basin.

History

Jim White explored many of the rooms and gave them their names, including the Big Room, New Mexico Room, King's Palace, Queen's Chamber, Papoose Room, and Green Lake Room. He also named many of the cave's more prominent formations, such as the Totem Pole, Witch's Finger, Giant Dome, Bottomless Pit, Fairyland, Iceberg Rock, Temple of the Sun, and Rock of Ages.

Carlsbad, the town, and, thus, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, supposedly take their name from Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Czech Republic, meaning literally, Charles' Baths, in German.

Legislative History

• On October 25, 1923, President Calvin Coolidge signed a proclamation (1679-Oct. 25, 1923-43 Stat. 1929) establishing Carlsbad Cave National Monument.^[3]
• On April 2, 1924, President Calvin Coolidge issued an executive order (3984) for a possible national park or monument at the site.^[4]
• A supplemental executive order (4870) was issued on May 3, 1928 reserving additional land for the possible monument or park.^[5]
• On May 14, 1930, an act of the United States Congress (46 Stat. 279) established Carlsbad Caverns National Park to be directed by the Secretary of the Interior and administered by the National Park Service.^[6]
• President Herbert Hoover signed Executive Order 5370 on June 17, 1930, reserving additional land for classification.^[7]
• Carlsbad Caverns Wilderness was established with the National Parks and Recreation Act of 1978 (95-625) signed by President Jimmy Carter.^[8]

Named rooms

Balloon Ballroom

Located in the ceiling above the main entrance hall, this small room was first accessed by tying a rope to a bunch of balloons and floating them up into the passage.

Bat Cave

A large, unadorned rocky passage connected to the main entrance corridor that was mined for bat guano in the early 20th century. The majority of the cave's bat population lives in this portion of the cave.

Bell Cord Room

Named for a long, narrow stalactite coming through a hole in the ceiling, resembling the rope coming through a church steeple to ring the bell. This room is located at the end of the Left Hand Tunnel.

Rock of Ages in the Big Room, photo by Ansel Adams, c.1941

On the tour route

Flowstone, a form of travertine

Outside the entrance to the caverns.

Carlsbad Cavern amphitheater

Bifrost Room

Discovered in 1982, it is located in the ceiling above Lake of the Clouds. Its name refers to a Norse myth about a world in the sky that was accessed from Earth by a rainbow. The room was given this name because of its location above the Lake of the Clouds and its colorful oxide-stained formations.

Big Room or The Hall of the Giants

The largest chamber in Carlsbad Caverns, with a floor space of .^[9]

Chocolate High

A maze of small passages totalling nearly a mile in combined length, discovered in 1993 above a mud-filled pit in the New Mexico Room known as Chocolate Drop.

Green Lake Room

The uppermost of the "Scenic Rooms", it is named for a deep, malachite-colored pool in the corner of the room. In the 1940s, when the military was testing the feasibility of Carlsbad Cavern as an emergency fallout shelter, the Green Lake was used to look for ripples caused by a nuclear bomb test many miles away. None appeared.

Guadalupe Room

Discovered by a park ranger in 1966, this is the second largest room in Carlsbad Caverns. It is known for its dense collection of "soda straw" stalactites.

Hall of the White Giant

A large chamber containing a large, white stalagmite. Rangers regularly lead special wild cave tours to this location.

King's Palace

The first of four chambers in a wing known as the "scenic rooms", it is named for a large castle-like formation in the center of the room.

Lake of the Clouds

The lowest known point in the cave. It is located in a side passage off the Left Hand Tunnel. It is named for its large lake containing globular, cloud-like rock formations that formed under water when the lake level was much higher.

Left Hand Tunnel

A long, straight passage marked by deep fissures in the floor. These fissures are not known to lead anywhere. The Left Hand Tunnel leads to the Lake of the Clouds and the Bell Cord Room.

Mystery Room

A small room located in the lower part of the cave

New Mexico Room

Located adjacent to the Queen's Chamber and accessed by means of a short slope.

New Section

A section of fissures east of the White Giant formation and paralleling the Bat Cave. New discoveries are still being made in this section.

Papoose Room

Located between the King's Palace and Queen's Chamber.

Queen's Chamber

Widely regarded as the most beautiful and scenic area of the cave. Jim White's lantern went out in this chamber while exploring and was in the dark for over half an hour.

Spirit World

Located in the ceiling of the Big Room, this area is filled with white stalagmites that resembled angels to the room's discoverers.

Talcum Passage

A room located in Lower Cave where the floor is coated with gypsum dust.

The Rookery

One of the larger rooms in Lower Cave. A large number of cave pearls are found in this area.

Underground Lunchroom

Located in the Big Room at the head of the Left Hand Tunnel. It contains a cafeteria that was built in the 1950s, and is where the elevators from the visitor center exit into the cave.

Recent exploration

In 1985 a very distinctive method of exploration was invented. In a dome area above the Big Room floor not far from the Bottomless Pit a stalagmite leaned out. Using a balsa wood loop with helium-filled balloons attached, the explorers--after several tries over several years--floated a light weight cord that snagged the target stalagmite. Once the light weight cord was in position up, over, and back to the ground, a climbing rope was pulled into position, and the explorers ascended into what they named The Spirit World.^[10] A similar, smaller room was found in the main entrance corridor, and was named Balloon Ballroom in honor of this technique.

In 1993, a series of small passages totaling nearly a mile in combined length was found in the ceiling of the New Mexico Room. Named "Chocolate High", it was the largest discovery in the cave since the Guadalupe Room was found in 1966.

Lechuguilla Cave, another cave in the park discovered in 1986, is the focus of much current cave exploration at the park. It has been mapped to a depth of 489 m, making it the deepest limestone cave in the U.S. The entrance is located in an old mining pit called Misery Hole in an obscure corner of the park. It is not accessible to the general public, and the exact location of Misery Hole is kept relatively hidden in an attempt to preserve the cave in its most undisturbed state.

The Bottomless Pit was originally said to have no bottom. Stones were tossed into it, but no sound of the stones striking the bottom was heard. Later exploration revealed that the bottom was about 140 feet (40m) deep and covered with soft dirt. The stones made no sound when they struck the bottom because they were lodged in the soft soil.

Bats

Sixteen species of bats live in the park, including a large number of Mexican Free-tailed Bats. It is estimated that the population of Mexican Free-tailed Bats once numbered in the millions but has declined drastically in modern times. The cause of this decline is unknown but the pesticide DDT is often listed as a primary cause. Populations appear to be on the increase in recent years but are nowhere near the levels that were once historically present.

Many techniques have been used to estimate the bat population in the cave. The various techniques used point to a current population peak of several hundred thousand when the young pups are flying in the fall.^[11]

See also

The Witch's Finger in Carlsbad Caverns

• U.S. Forest Service Blanchard Springs Caverns
• Mammoth Cave National Park
• Guadalupe Mountains National Park
• Wind Cave National Park
• List of areas in the National Park System of the United States

Notes

References

• The National Parks: Index 2001?2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.

External links

• Official site: Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• Climate data for Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• USGS 3D Photographic Geology Tour for Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• ''Historical Dates in the history of Carlsbad Caverns National Park and SouthEast New Mexico''
• NPS geology fieldnotes website for Carlsbad Caverns National Park
• Carlsbad Caverns at AmazingPlanet.info

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