I don't know about any of you, but I'm not much of a cave lover. You will never catch me spelunking due to the fact that I am afraid that either something is going to cave in (no pun intended) or I'd get stuck in some small place that I'd have to work through. It nearly makes me sweat thinking about it --- and the funny thing is I'm not usually claustrophobic.
I figured we were safe to go through a tour in a cave though. Plus the walkways were wide enough that none of us were going to get stuck in anything.
I figured we were safe to go through a tour in a cave though. Plus the walkways were wide enough that none of us were going to get stuck in anything.


The caverns are made of limestone. For the workers to make bigger walkways, they had to weaken the limestone by drilling holes. The perfect circular holes were made with machines, but there were some along the way that were jagged that were done by hand in the 1820s.

Do you know the difference between a stalactite and a stalagmite? Stalactites cling "tightly" to the ceiling of the cave while stalagmites "might" make it to the ceiling.

Speaking of cold... the air temperature in the caverns are a constant 54 degrees. I bet the old workers were sick a lot since it's damp and chilly ALL the time.

This is a picture of the end of the tour --- where the lights are, there is another small opening to another room that opens into other caverns. Perhaps one day Natural Bridge will close down the caverns to do some more exploring in the future.
We also entered a room that had a huge crevass to look up to the ceiling. We were nearly 350 feet below the earth's surface. That was the most drastic of all ceilings.
There was also a room called the Waterfall Room. There is no longer a waterfall because the flood of '85 flooded the caverns for months and changed the way water rushed in the mountain.
Who knew a flood on top of the earth could change things under the earth so drastically?

We had a great time and will likely go back once the boys have grown up more and forgotten what was in there.
1 comment:
Went spelunking once with scouts (necessary to use ropes and harneses and all) and really enjoyed it. Did some dinking around at school too.
For me, I think some claustrophobia would probably set in if I were squeezing through a pass and I couldn't see where it opens up. Haven't really tested that theory.
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