At the turn of the century, a local ranch hand named Jim White saw a column of smoke beyond the ridge. When he went to investigate, he discovered that the smoke was really millions of bats pouring out of the cave! . . .So goes the Carlsbad Caverns discovery story. Today, the nightly bat flights continue; park rangers estimate the bat population to be 300,000 strong. We witnesed their exodus at dusk--an impressive, steady stream (bad for photos) of hungry bats with one thing on their mind: bugs.

Here is the mouth of the cave.>