Descent to bottom of ‘Bottomless Pit’ in New Mexico finds oddities tossed by tourists

Mark Price

Wed, May 4, 2022,

The “Bottomless Pit” at Carlsbad Caverns National Park does, in fact, have a bottom, and a group of cavers recently made the perilous decent on an odd-but-important mission.

“At approximately 140 ft (43m) deep, it can be a treacherous climb to the bottom,” the New Mexico park wrote May 2 on Facebook.

“Occasionally, cavers must descend into the pit to pick up trash and other objects that have been thrown into the pit. This can be a dangerous job, but anything that gets thrown into this pit must be removed to protect the fragile cave environment.”

Three cavers participated and the park shared a photo of the collective junk pile they found in “various Big Room Pits,” including:

• a bullet shell casing

• a lug nut

• a Jolly Rancher

• a pack of belVita biscuits

• two keys

• three lip balm sticks

• five plastic bottles

• lots of pennies, dimes, nickles and quarters

The trash found at the bottom of the Bottomless Pit included $14.36 in change, the park says.

“A grand total $14.36 in coins,” the park said, “which were placed in the park donation box.”

Park officials also posted a photo of the pit’s rarely seen floor bathed in light, showing it opens up into a giant cavern.

The revelation of what was found has gotten hundreds of reactions on social media, with some wanting to know dates on the coins and others joking a bottomless pit is the perfect place to lose a cell phone.

The notorious pit is located in the cave’s Big Room, which counts as “the largest single cave chamber by volume in North America” at approximately 357,480 square feet, the park service reports.

“Many people enjoy staring beyond the rail and wondering, like early explorers, just how deep the darkness goes,” the park service wrote in a 2018 Facebook post.

“For early explores without strong lights, this gaping hole appeared bottomless.”

The Bottomless Pit! This popular destination is one of the deepest pits inside of Carlsbad Cavern.

At approximately 140ft (43m) deep, it can be a treacherous climb to the bottom. Occasionally, cavers must descend into the pit to pick up trash and other objects that have been thrown into the pit. This can be a dangerous job, but anything that gets thrown into this pit must be removed to protect the fragile cave environment.

This panoramic photo was taken earlier this year by...

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