The Big Loop, Day 10: Carlsbad Caverns (21 images)

Located on the southern border of New Mexico, Carlsbad Caverns National Park was so much bigger, so much more spectacular than I had anticipated. If you have ever been to Timpanogos Cave NM in Utah, Lehman Caves in Nevada's Great Basin NP, or Lewis and Clark SP in Montana, just multiply your memory of those by a hundred. Or a thousand. Truly.

Carlsbad is just spectacular. Its vastness is mind-boggling. And that's just the cave that we saw, the one that visitors have access to. There are many hundreds of miles of caves in the park open only to scientific research cavers. And many more as of yet undiscovered.

To help illustrate their magnificence, both of my buddies with me, at separate times and independent of each other commented "I think this may be more incredible than the Grand Canyon.

I hope my images show some of the scale of the place, besides the intricate, ever-varying decorations: statutes, stalagmites, straws, drapes, popcorn, on and on. If you haven't visited Carlsbad Caverns, add it to your bucket list! But plan your trip between April and October so you can witness the nightly exodus of the hundreds of thousands bats that live there. Our not being there in that season was my only regret.