Who knew that dropping a bag of Cheetos could be such a big deal? But, at Carlsbad Caverns, it was.
Surely, when the tourist dropped the bag at popular caverns, they probably had no idea that the act could have extensive consequences. The cautionary tale went viral again on October 19, 2026, trending on Google, although it actually dates back several years.
The cavern has enormous historic significance. “Carlsbad Cavern is one of over 300 limestone caves in a fossil reef laid down by an inland sea about 265 million years ago,” the site’s website explains. “Twelve-to-fourteen thousand years ago, American Indians lived in the Guadalupe Mountains. Some of their cooking ring sites and pictographs have been found within the present day boundaries of the park.”
What Happened With the Bag of Cheetos at Carlsbad Caverns?
You can find the story on a 2024 Facebook post made by Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
“Great or small we all leave an impact wherever we go. How we choose to interact with others and the world we share together has its effects moment by moment,” the park service wrote. “And we feel it.”
“When we are greeted with a smile. When we share the first rays of dawn with someone we care about. Or when someone imposes their frustration on us, or when someone we care about forgets to pack the sunscreen and snacks,” the park service wrote, starting out the post by sharing a deeper theme.
“In the same way, we affect the world around us in subtle ways too. Here at Carlsbad Caverns, we love that we can host thousands of people in the cave each day. Incidental impacts can be difficult or impossible to prevent. Like the simple fact that every step a person takes into the cave leaves a fine trail of lint,” added the park service.
The Processed Corn in the Cheetos Caused a ‘Temporary Food Web’ Impact
“Other impacts are completely avoidable. Like a full snack bag dropped off-trail in the Big Room. To the owner of the snack bag, the impact is likely incidental. But to the ecosystem of the cave it had a huge impact,” continued the post.
Here’s what unfolded next:
“The processed corn, softened by the humidity of the cave, formed the perfect environment to host microbial life and fungi. Cave crickets, mites, spiders and flies soon organize into a temporary food web, dispersing the nutrients to the surrounding cave and formations. Molds spread higher up the nearby surfaces, fruit, die and stink. And the cycle continues,” added the park service.
“Rangers spent twenty minutes carefully removing the foreign detritus and molds from the cave surfaces. Some members of this fleeting ecosystem are cave-dwellers, but many of the microbial life and molds are not. At the scale of human perspective, a spilled snack bag may seem trivial, but to the life of the cave it can be world changing,” the post continued.
“Great or small we all leave an impact wherever we go. Let us all leave the world a better place than we found it.”
