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Carlsbad, New Mexico

Early explorers scoured the caves, finding new passageways and caverns with every twist and turn of their historic explorations. This particular site exhibits a 90-foot rope ladder that descends into the Lower Cave, a cave that is not accessible to the general public. It is said most folks who used the ladder felt rather uncomfortable, apparently dangling in mid-air into a dark recess isn't all that fun. Over time the ladder has fallen into disrepair, many of its wooden rungs are now missing.

The Lower Cave, as well as other portions of Carlsbad Caverns, are purposefully left undeveloped in order to preserve their natural state for future scientific study.

Moving along, after a short walk I come to what is called the Top of the Cross. The cross is hard to envision due to the low lighting in the cave, however, according to the placard, I'm standing at the top of a mammoth imaginary cross. There are multiple rows of seating nearby, I'm guessing cave presentations conducted by park staff are held in this space.

Here's a blurb about the cave's lighting systems. Without such systems, the cave would be completely dark. I'm now reminded of the time when I visited Carlsbad Caverns way back in the day when I as a kid. My family and I went on one of the guided tours. At one point during the tour they turned off all the lights, so I can attest, it is indeed pitch dark in here. All lighting is white light, no color lights are utilized in the cave. The last photo, one of my favorites of my tour, shows the colors as they actually are.