May 10 2026
Beneath the Chihuahuan Desert of southeastern New Mexico lies an underground landscape far larger and more complicated than most visitors realize. Carlsbad Caverns National Park protects more than 119 known caves, ranging from enormous systems extending for more than a hundred miles to small passages that remain almost entirely untouched. Yet most visitors experience only …
May 05 2026
The Big Room is the centerpiece of Carlsbad Caverns National Park and the underground experience nearly every first-time visitor should make time to see. Located roughly 750 feet beneath the Chihuahuan Desert of southeastern New Mexico, this immense chamber covers about 8.2 acres and contains an extraordinary collection of stalactites, stalagmites, columns, draperies, flowstone, pools, …
Sep 04 2025
Hidden beneath the ponderosa pine forests of South Dakota’s Black Hills is one of the longest known cave systems on Earth. Jewel Cave National Monument protects an enormous underground maze of winding passages, narrow crawlways, chambers, sparkling calcite crystals, unusual mineral formations, and powerful airflow that suggests the known cave may represent only part of …
Sep 28 2024
Balconies Cave is one of the most unusual hiking destinations in Pinnacles National Park. Instead of entering a conventional limestone cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites, visitors scramble beneath enormous volcanic boulders that tumbled into a narrow canyon and became wedged overhead, creating a twisting network of dark passages below. The result is part cave, …
Sep 14 2024
Beneath the mountains and sagebrush of eastern Nevada lies a world that feels completely removed from the landscape above. Lehman Caves, one of the signature attractions of Great Basin National Park, contains intricate stalactites, stalagmites, columns, draperies, flowstone, helictites, cave popcorn, and hundreds of unusual formations known as cave shields. The cave system extends for …
