When I was nine years old (I had always thought eight, but my mother says nine), my family, all but my sister who was a baby of one at the time, toured the cavern. In those days all tours were ranger-led, and everyone took the natural entrance. From that entrance, the trail drops steeply for one and a half miles or so, descending about 800 feet into the maze of intersecting caves. Then it rises about 40 feet to enter The Big Room. Those who take the elevator down nowadays pass where the trail enters shortly after leaving the underground restaurant/gift shop area at the lower end of the elevator. From here, the trail skirts the side of the huge room, travelling in a counterclockwise direction for another mile and a half through some of the most beautiful, spectacular features in the main area.
I have little memory of the tour when I was nine. What I do remember tells me that we walked forever, I held my mother's hand for part of the way, and that at some point we stopped for a while, my mother dropped my hand to do something for my little brother, and the lights went out. I was petrified, afraid to move for what seemed like an interminable time. There is no light whatsoever that deep into the cavern, and my memory's impression was that there was a drop-off just beyond the handrail. Because I was small and the handrail was not adequate to keep me from slipping through, I was terrified. I have always attributed my claustrophobia to this experience, as I don't recall being afraid of the dark or of confined spaces before that.
Now for reality...that stop was always made in front of the formation called "Rock of Ages". At that spot, the lights were turned out and the ranger led the tour in singing the old hymn of that name. Of course now that can't happen, and the tour is self-guided anyway. But I've visited the spot twice in the past 72 hours and I now know...there is no drop-off, or anything that could have been interpreted as a drop-off in that location. Strange what a child's perceptions can do to the adult's memory. So I faced my nemesis, here's proof:
By the way, this is an active cave, and a number of the pictures have artifacts like the large white circle over my left shoulder that I think are drops of water that caught the flash.
Now, that formation is near the end of the hike we took today--these pictures aren't in chronological order this time. Budd had the camera, except for the spot near the entrance where I asked for it to take this picture. Duck!
There were several spots where he had to, and not one had a warning sign!
He took a couple hundred pictures, some that were absolutely spectacular. However, it's impossible to put all of them here, and I haven't been through them enough to choose a few samples. So I picked a few that had me in them for your entertainment.
In this next picture, Budd wanted me to stand by the speleothem to give some height perspective. While I was waiting for the flash, a feature of the formation that I hadn't realized before caught my eye. The inside of these 'draperies' are crystalline!
Once Budd had as many shots as he wanted, I called him over and asked for a close-up. Though it's spectacular, this picture didn't do the crystal justice. The arrow points to the one I was looking at.
The final one caught my eye as people ahead of us disappeared around the corner and then their legs appeared in the window. I had Budd stay behind and went around to play peekaboo with him...
When I've had a chance to sort through the rest, I'll post some on a Facebook album and post a link here. We covered the three miles total hike in right at 3 hours, thanks to long stops for Budd to get his photos. But even though I'll share, I have to say that no photo can capture the sheer wonder of this place. Everywhere you look, spectacular sights greet you. Words can't convey it either, you have to be there. I'm so thankful I got to see it again as an adult, as my childhood memories didn't do it any kind of justice.
No comments:
Post a Comment