Carlsbad Caverns: Left Hand Tunnel Tour

The Left Hand Tunnel Tour is a ranger-guided, lantern-lit trek into a lesser-developed area of the main cave. There is no pavement, and no artificial lighting. Participants are given candle-powered lanterns, with the intent of giving a feel reminiscent of what the original explorers would have experienced as they explored the cave for the first time. It's an experience that is different than the more artificial setup in the self-guided Big Room and Natural Entrance sections of the cave, as well as the King's Chamber Tour, which is also artificially lit. As a result, I was unable to take long-exposure no-flash pictures, as I was in the other areas of the cavern. (The difference in how well no-flash pictures capture the actual lighting vs. flash pictures is quite striking. See if you can spot the difference in the previous posts.)

The tunnel is called the Left Hand Tunnel because it goes off to the left from the Natural Entrance.

Carlsbad Caverns: King's Chamber Tour

The King's Chamber Tour is the high point of a visit to the Caverns. It shows the best parts of the cave, which the original explorer, Jim White, gave names referencing royalty.

Carlsbad Caverns: The Big Room

The Big Room is about a mile long, with a paved path for visitors to follow. Lots of indirect lighting shows off various features to some effect.

Carlsbad Caverns: Intro

There's something odd in road-sign math on the southern approach to Carlsbad Caverns.

The first picture is taken, well, 67 miles from the Caverns. But was it taken 80 miles from Carlsbad? The second picture was taken in White's City, the junction where the road to the Caverns turns off. Hmmm.