Tour Description

Slaughter Canyon Cave has some of the most beautiful and enchanting cave formations in the park. The tour takes you into the darkness where you will see not only beautiful decorations but remnants of days gone by, during a time when the cave was mined for its guano. Today, the trail cuts through an ancient pile of guano and if you look close you will see the tiny, fragile bones of a long extinct bat. There is no stooping or crawling on this tour but it is extremely strenuous. To get to the cave you must walk up a steep, rocky 1/2 mile trail from the parking lot. On a hot summer day the temperature outside can exceed 100 degrees F (38 C) in the shade. Be prepared with water and sunscreen. Once inside the cooler cave, things do not get easier. The trail is rugged and in many places, extremely slippery. At one point you will climb up smooth and slick flowstone using a handline.
Sorry, children under 8 years of age are not allowed on this tour.

Tour Details

• Duration: 5 hr. 30 min.
• Distance: 1 miles
• Accessible: No
• Effort: Difficult

Know Before You Go

Recently, Carlsbad Caverns National Park has made significant changes to the logistics of the SCC tour. These changes were made not only to ensure the safety of each participant, but to help stop the spread of White-nose Syndrome, a fatal disease affecting bats. It is caused by a fungus and has killed more than 5 million bats in several states in the Eastern US and Canada over the past several years. The fungal spores are spread from bat to bat contact, but can also be transported from one cave to another on the shoes, clothing and caving equipment of humans.
The fungus is not harmful to people or other animals, but is deadly to bats.

Please read the following carefully to be fully prepared for your Slaughter Canyon Cave Adventure Tour!