All I can say is WOW, what a day. Carlsbad Caverns lived up too expectations. I did the Ranger led tour, but you had to schedule it 4 weeks in advance. They only have 24 slots a day and when they release a day @9am, all the slots are filled in 15 minutes. It was worth the hassle. The drive up the mountain was really nice, posted video of part of drive down. I took the trail down the natural entrance instead of the elevator. It is a 1.25 mile walk, going down 800 feet in elevation. Was going to take the elevator back up, but the line was so long and I am impatient, so against my better judgement I took the trail back up and of course I made it. So I had my exercise for the day, but what an experience.
Only about 20% of the cave is open to the public, the other 80% is either protected or they are still exploring. The ranger lead tour takes through a part of the cave only accessible on a tour. The ranger was great, sharing history and other aspects of the cave. See Video. There were bats flying around at the entrance, have video below. Anyway, this is definitely a bucket list item.
