Twenty miles southwest of Carlsbad on Hwy 62/180, Carlsbad Caverns National Park lies in the rugged foothills of the Guadalupe Mountains. Within its 46,776 acres is Carlsbad Caverns, a series of enormous rooms that forms one of the world's largestcaves. The cavern was created on a limestone fossil reef by percolating ground water, a process thought to have begun some 2 million to 3 million years ago. Formations range from small, delicate growths resembling plants to massive stalagmites, stalactites and columns. Many are tinted by iron and other minerals present in the limestone. Every evening from mid-May to mid-September, hundreds of thousands of bats emerge from the uppermost chamber of the cavern at dusk to feed on flying insects. The flight outward may last a half-hour or more, the bats return near dawn. Visitor center open daily 8-7, Memorial Day-Aug.18; 8-5:30 rest of the year.

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