A photo story

Kings Palace

Kings Palace, deep inside Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico, in March 2024. The little sign on the cave floor is in English and Spanish, and the fine print says you are entering this room for the second time. It was an absolutely beautiful day on the surface. I went in through the Natural Entrance that morning, and this was later, in Kings Palace. I spent most of that day underground.

I went on the ranger-guided Kings Palace tour, and it was awesome. Kings Palace is in the deepest part of the cavern open to the public, about 830 feet beneath the desert surface. The cave stays around 56 degrees year-round. The scenery was really amazing. I had never seen anything like it.

There were no bats that day. The Brazilian free-tailed bats that summer in the cavern are typically away for the winter, and they return in spring.

The day before I had been at Guadalupe Peak, the high point of Texas, and a few days earlier at White Sands. After those wide open landscapes, a full day underground in a place like this is something I'll remember.