Parking
Access is about 0.25 mile past interpretive marker #4 on Desert Loop Road; the published trail information does not specify a parking lot or capacity.
Overview
About Lower Rattlesnake Canyon Trail
Why go
- A signed trail access leads off the scenic loop road into canyon terrain.
Heads up
- The published time and elevation figures do not fully agree with the mapped corridor.
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Carlsbad Caverns map
Full mapElevation3,967–4,209 ft
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
1 active Carlsbad Caverns alert
- ClosureFlood-damaged road and trails remain closedWalnut Canyon Desert Drive and three backcountry trail sections remain closed because of extensive damage from the historic August 2022 flood.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Carlsbad Caverns Tour Guide
Your drive to Lower Rattlesnake Canyon Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Carlsbad Caverns National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Rattlesnake Canyon Trailhead0:00 / 0:22
“You're nearing the Rattlesnake Canyon trailhead, where the Upper Canyon loop takes you from a canyon-floor wash onto Guadalupe Ridge.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Carlsbad Caverns Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Guadalupe Ridge Trailhead
- The Wind Beneath the Rubble
- The Moth Inside the Yucca
- Hunting by Echo
- 26 audio storiesacross Carlsbad Caverns’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Mexican Free-tailed Bat, Aoudad, Mule Deer, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 12 trails, 12 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Lower Rattlesnake Canyon Trail
The route and its figuresLower Rattlesnake Canyon is a moderate out-and-back that begins about a quarter mile beyond…
Lower Rattlesnake Canyon is a moderate out-and-back that begins about a quarter mile beyond interpretive marker #4 on Desert Loop Road. The listed distance is 3 miles; the named mapped path measures about 1.4 miles to its far end, so this record treats three miles as the full return walk. Allow about three hours. Published wording also calls three hours a one-way travel time and gives 600 feet of elevation change, figures that do not reconcile cleanly with the mapped line and its sampled profile. Confirm the turnaround and climbing before planning around a tight schedule.
What the path is likeA signed access opens onto a pale, uneven rocky track through low desert scrub.
A signed access opens onto a pale, uneven rocky track through low desert scrub. The mapped line follows the named Lower Rattlesnake path into the canyon and ends at its mapped endpoint; the route material does not establish a named overlook or a specific destination view. Expect an unpaved, moderate walk, and treat the elevation profile as an estimate rather than a precise climb total.
Access and backcountry rulesStart about 0.25 mile past marker 4 on Desert Loop Road.
Start about 0.25 mile past marker #4 on Desert Loop Road. The trail information does not specify a parking lot or capacity. Pets are not allowed on unpaved surface trails. Day hiking does not require a permit; overnight use requires a free backcountry permit from the visitor center during business hours.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Carlsbad Caverns
48 sightingsMexican Free-tailed BatMost seen around 8 PMSighting map
175 sightingsAoudadMost seen around 6 PMSighting map
38 sightingsMule DeerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
86 sightingsWild TurkeyMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
33 sightingsCollared PeccaryMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
52 sightingsLargemouth BassMost seen around 7 PMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Carlsbad Caverns. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
