Do you yearn for those worlds untouched by sunshine, hidden away under tons of earth and rock? Do you have a yen to explore those realms populated by bats, eyeless fish, and cave crickets? Is spelunking in your blood? If a cave adventure is in your future, then you just can't do any better than visiting two of this country's premier cave-oriented national parks: New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns and Kentucky's Mammoth Cave.
Recently, we had the opportunity to visit both of these dramatic areas during a cross-country trip that took our F-250 Power Stroke/fifth-wheel trailer combo cruising through the states of New Mexico and Kentucky. Since we started from our home base of Southern California, New Mexico and Carlsbad Caverns were to be our first stops on this cave adventure.
 Carlsbad Caverns stuns the...  Carlsbad Caverns stuns the senses with its wide variety of stalactites, stalagmites, and an incredible variety of other formations. |  Sitting Bull Falls, located...  Sitting Bull Falls, located just north of Carlsbad Caverns in the Guadalupe Mountains, is the highest waterfall in New Mexico. |  Our F-250 Power Stroke toured...  Our F-250 Power Stroke toured the Big Cave country in style. |
Carlsbad Caverns
Located in the southeastern portion of New Mexico, Carlsbad Caverns National Park is approximately 30 miles south of the town of Carlsbad. Although the Caverns were to be our main focus of the adventure, we also planned to spend some time in nearby Guadalupe Mountains and a stop at Carlsbad's Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park.
 Guadalupe Mountain is stunning...  Guadalupe Mountain is stunning in its scenery and wide variety of adventure activities. |  The Guadalupe Mountain area...  The Guadalupe Mountain area offers as much scenic opportunity as does nearby Carlsbad Caverns. |  Mammoth Cave is the longest...  Mammoth Cave is the longest cave system in the United States. A wide number of tours are available. |
According to national park literature, "The decoration of Carlsbad Caverns with stalactites, stalagmites, and an incredible variety of other formations began more than 500,000 years ago." Exploration of the Caverns is wondrous indeed, and you have the choice of a few different tours. You can elect to enter through the cave's natural entrance and walk down one mile into the stunning bowels of the cave, then take another mile-long tour through the Caverns' most stunning wonders in the "Big Room." Or you can take an elevator down and walk the mile through the Big Room. A third option takes you on a ranger-led tour through Kings Palace. We decided to get the most out of our trip and took the full two-mile, self-guided route from cave entrance to the Big Room terminus.
Touring Carlsbad Caverns is like taking a step back in time and a leap ahead in the ultimate cave adventure. Touted as one of the most amazing caves in the world, Carlsbad Caverns thrills you at every turn in its well-lit environs which amaze visitors with an endless variety of formations, cave lakes, endless stretches of cave expanse, and wonders not to be seen above the earth. Although we had visited the Caverns 20 years earlier, the cave still impressed us through every minute of our tour.
As stated earlier, the Carlsbad area offers much more than just the Caverns. We also spent a day in the Guadalupe Mountains, which in its own right is well worth the trip. We spent some time at Sitting Bull Falls, which is the highest waterfall in the state of New Mexico and a natural wonder in itself. A drive through the Guadalupe Mountains also offers a vast array of scenic beauty, some great hiking trails, camping and picnicking opportunities, an impressive mix of flora and fauna, and much more. We also took time out to visit the Living Desert Zoo just outside Carlsbad, which houses an impressive assortment of native animals, exotic species, and a wide range of desert plants.
We parked our fifth-wheel trailer at the fairly new Carlsbad KOA campground, located just north of Carlsbad, and took advantage of the park's full hookups, well-stocked store, numerous amenities, and friendly personnel.