Stop #11: Sunset Reef Campground BLM, Carlsbad, NM

It was time to head south. When you do an online search, one of the main attractions that come up for New Mexico is Carlsbad Caverns. We had family members that had visited and reiterated that it was a must see so we knew we had to make that one of our stops. We drove past Roswell and while for most this is also a must, we felt ok not stopping. We are not the touristy type so those kind of attractions are not musts for us. We were towing the RV so our priority was to get to our next campground.

In Carlsbad we opted to dry camp at Sunset Reef Campground. No hookups here but it's free and you can stay for a maximum of 5 days. We were only planning to visit Carlsbad Caverns so 2 nights was all we needed. Campsite is off the main road, accessible via a very narrow (and somewhat long) dirt road. If there's someone coming in the opposite direction one of you would have to wait on the side. However, land is flat with not much vegetation which helps with being able to see if there's someone coming before you head into the road. We arrived at around 4:30p and the campground was starting to fill up but we were able to find a nice spot along the fence, facing the sunset. If aiming to camp here, make sure not to arrive to late as it's not a large one and it will likely be full.

Sunset Reef Campground

Sunset views from our RV

The sunsets at Sunset Reef were beautiful. Golden hues over the open field. Some sites at this campground do have covered picnic tables, grills, and fire pits. We were along the fence so we had none of these, which was fine for the length of time we would be there. It's the closest campground we found to the caverns so we knew it would serve its purpose.That evening we stayed in and rested so we'd be ready to visit the cavern the following day.

To visit Carlsbad Caverns a reservation is required which you can book online at Recreation.gov. It's a timed entry so when booking you will need to choose a time frame for when you'd be arriving. If you wish to do one of the ranger-guided tours offered at the visitor center, try to reserve those well in advance. We were hoping to do the King's Palace Tour (one of the spaces within the cavern that you can only access with a tour) but it was booked. At the visitor center we asked again just in case it was an online fluke but they confirmed that those were booking a couple of months in advance.

Looking back, while it would've been nice to do the tour, the Big Room was amazing all on it's own and we didn't leave feeling like we missed out on anything. Now I confess, that I for one, thought I had seen it all when it came to caves specially after visiting Florida Caverns State Park. I was truthfully feeling a bit 'meh' about this visit - Paul was much more excited than I was. Boy was I pleasantly surprised! The size alone of this cavern will blow your mind away and the formations you see in there are like nothing you'll ever see. It looks like a very surreal underground world in there. Having been now I see why Will Rogers called it, "The Grand Canyon with a roof over it."

The Grand room @ Carlsbad

Amazed by this place!

Homeschool field trip

Alien-like formations

The size of this cavern!

So much to see here

We took the elevator down instead of walking down the natural entrance since we were visiting with kids and preferred to save their energy for the good stuff. There was no wait heading down but we were warned online that there would probably be a wait on the way up if visiting in the afternoon (we arrived at 12p so we fell in that category) as there would be more people heading back up by then. Though the cave is kept with dim lights, the trail itself is clearly marked with well kept walkways and railways. We stopped a lot along the way to take pictures and stare at the many impressive formations (some looked like aliens straight out of a horror movie while others were just beautiful to look at) emerging from both the ceiling and floor of the cave. We took about an hour and a half to do the 1.25mi trail.

There's a cafeteria at the visitor and a small cafe at the cave entrance, close to where you get out of the elevator. The wait to get back up on the elevator was a bit long (only one elevator was working and it was slow) so we visited both the cafe while on that level and then the cafeteria for a late lunch. The kids did the Junior Ranger booklets while we ate and got their badges before we left.

One thing we didn't get to do, that could've been cool, was seeing the bats emerging from the cave in the evening. We were there in April so the Bat Flight program had not started for the year (it runs between May and October) and when asking a ranger about it she mentioned there weren't that many bats at the moment (some were still migrating) so it wouldn't be that impressive which put a damper on our enthusiasm. We returned to our RV, enjoyed another gorgeous sunset and got ready for another travel day the next morning.

So, do add Carlsbad Caverns to your list even if you've visited other caves. It truly will not disappoint.