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Day 26: University of Kentucky and Mammoth Cave National Park’s Mammoth Passages Tour

All over the world children watch their Disney movies and visions of theme parks dance in their heads. Bicyclers dream of the Tour de France, gamblers dream of Las Vegas, and mountain climbers dream of Mount Everest. Mammoth Cave of Kentucky is a lot like the Disney World of the caver. The longest cave in the world, and numerous books and stories of the exploration of the never-ending Mammoth Caverns has kept many cavers dreaming of the underworld.
Today I awoke in Lexington, Kentucky to tour the University of Kentucky, my 3rd stop in my list of potential graduate schools to visit. The University is conveniently located in the midst of Kentucky karst, the library (which holds the record for the largest book endowment of all public universities in the nation) even sits atop two sinkholes which required special foundation design so that it could achieve the feat. The U of K seems to be the perfect size: being both large enough to offer ample facilities (and has a growing geology department), yet small enough that the graduate program still affords a family-like atmosphere. Everyone was friendly, and caving is a serious sport in the area.

The University of Kentucky. June 3, 2011

I ate dinner the night before at Thai Orchid Cafe, where I enjoyed some very yummy peanut chicken. I chose the restaurant because of it’s decoration: orchids galore. It made me feel a little homesick for my own orchids that I have left in the care of my loving sister back home in Missouri. I enjoyed lunch today with some of the geology graduate students where I was able to get a true sense of what the campus was like, and tips on what to look for when seeking a graduate school. I love this opportunity because it gives me the chance to find out what graduate students wish they knew before they entered graduate school and gives me a lot to think about. All in all, I loved the University of Kentucky. Even the quirky robots that make deliveries in the medical building, where the cafeteria is located.

The Univerisity of Kentucky delivery robot. June 3, 2011

After my pleasant visit with the University of Kentucky I headed towards my theme park: The Mammoth Cave National Park. It was a palatable drive from Lexington, and has some great camping facilities (even if you do have to use those silly little tokens to take a shower, each token costs about $2.50 and lasts 10 minutes). The camp store is well stocked, both with products and helpful staff, and located a short walk from the camp. Everything is located within a short walk from the campsite. In fact, once I parked my Jeep at the campsite when I arrived, it didn’t move until two days later when I left the area.

The Mammoth Cave National Park camp store's new sign. June 3, 2011

Arriving later in the afternoon, I had time to take a shorter tour and, planning on taking the long tour the next day that encompassed almost every other tour (exempting the Wild cave tour) I was left with the Mammoth Passages tour. The tour enters through a natural entrance (a short walk from the visitor center, which for me included an encounter with a 2′ copperhead that decided to wander into the trail. The guide expertly kept the snake to the side with his hat after I pointed the snake out, and had everyone walk around before allowing the snake to continue across the walking path).

Looking back out the natural entrance of Mammoth Passages tour at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. June 3, 2011

The Mammoth Passages tour shows you what a majority of the longest cave in the world looks like: Huge, oval shaped passages with no speleothem development. The caves were named for this feature, having passages of an abnormally large size. While the cave is lacking in speleothem development, it makes up for in size many times over. It was used, as many caves are, by the natives between 4000 and 2000 years ago, when they left moccasins and other indications of human activity. Later the cave was used as a Salt-Petre mine during the war of 1812, over 400,000 lbs of calcium nitrate being extracted from the cave. After the war it had many uses such as a tuberculosis quarantine area, a church, a mushroom farm, and of course tourism, of which it is still used for today.

Moccasins in the Mammoth Passages tour of Mammoth Cave. Kentucky, June 3, 2011

I found the tour guide, as with most of the National Park run caves, to be very informative and fairly accurate in their description of the geology and the history. The kind of tour I appreciate, not only for my own knowledge, but for the education of the general public who are often mislead by private cave tour guides who are encouraged to elaborate upon their stories. My guide today was wonderful, a man who only works during the summer as he is retired.

The black cherry preserves and biscuits at Mammoth Cave Hotel Restaurant. June 3, 2011

Afterward I enjoyed a fried chicken dinner (it seemed appropriate for Kentucky) at the Mammoth Cave Hotel Restaurant, which included biscuits with black cherry preserves. Everything was wonderful, the biscuits with preserves so exceptionally good that I could have made a meal out of them alone. The prices weren’t bad either, comparable to your local Applebees price point. The campsite was large and amenable, and everyone I met on staff was helpful and friendly.

Shower tokens at Mammoth Cave N.P. June 3, 2011

Tomorrow I will be spending more time in my “Disney Land”. While I do prefer to focus on speleothem development and this cave has very little it is certainly a big playground for the caver side of me. Besides, it is important to understand what features cause a cavern to lack speleothem development to further the understanding of what causes speleothem density in other caverns.
Tomorrow I will be hiking for 4.5 hours, underground, on the Grand Avenue tour that takes me through 4 miles of underground bliss, and shows me the three different “faces” that Mammoth Cave has to offer. I’ll let you know how it went tomorrow.
Until then-
Nicole

Mammoth Passages tour entrance. Mammoth Cave N.P. June 3, 2011
Mammoth Cave has been a tourist destination for over a hundred years, this train used to transport guests. June 3, 2011
Thai Orchid Cafe in Lexington, KY. I ate there June 2, 2011.
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Day 25: Squire Boone Caverns (Mauckport, IN) and Rising Park (Lancaster, OH)

“We’re only human”
Such a funny statement. So many of us struggle to attain near-perfection. We want to be the best at what we do, have the greatest impact, and show that we are above the animal that we once were. Being human means we feel the need to try harder than any other creature. Like we have some sort of hierarchical need to take care of everyone, and everything, around us. We view ourselves as superior, the keepers of the planet. So why is it that when we make mistakes we make that claim: “We’re only human”.
The society we have today, the way we view ourselves as the superior animal, isn’t something that you can define. Our ideals of this being is fluid, and we often make mistakes in the past. It is a lack of knowledge, or sometimes simple ignorance, that causes us to make these mistakes. We can often find mistakes we have made in nature, causing a ripple effect that will take a millenia to still in the waters of our environment. Today I experienced two examples of these, and also a prime of example of what makes us humans so superior. It isn’t because of what we are- it is because we are constantly evolving at a rate much faster than any other member of the animal kingdom.

The view from the sandstone bluffs of Rising Park. June 2, 2011

This morning my friend decided to take me to Rising Park in Lancaster, Ohio before I continued my journey westward. The park was the gift of a self-made successful business man, Philip Rising, and his wife when they donated the land to the city in 1908. It contains the sandstone bluffs, known as Mount Pleasant today, but known as Standing Stone by early natives. The park contains a lake, many picnic shelters, and a nice hiking trail that leads to the top of the sandstone bluff, which affords a great view of the entire city and the lands of Ohio beyond.

A human-numb deer in Rising Park of Lancaster, OH. June 2, 2011

While hiking there a deer walked out in front of us, barely 20 feet away, clearly unafraid of humans. While this land, prior to the park’s development, had probably been a place of wilderness, today people and animals have meshed together a little too closely. It is unfortunate that animals in such situations become so dangerously used to people at the cost of our development. The park is beautiful and was meant to give us a closer view of nature, but you can never experience nature when you pave the walkways and put down solid stone benches. In changing the landscape for the average person to experience the outdoors you create a world that is a sort of hybrid- a place where deer don’t run and sandstone cliffs are marred from railings.

One of the Benches chisled of rock for Rising Park in Lancaster, OH. June 2, 2011

This isn’t to say that the park isn’t beneficial: It offers a great place for people to get outdoors and enjoy some healthy activities. It is just an example of how humans as a population can change the world so easily. We have made ourselves the architects of the earth, and we have remodeled the world to fit our needs.

A picnic shelter in Rising Park in Lancaster, OH. June 2, 2011

One of the prime examples of unintentional human tampering with nature exists in commercial caves. In the early times of cave tourism we did things unthinkable today: We touched, we broke, we threw coins in pools of water. These are the more obvious calamities, something that we quickly realized was detrimental as we watched the cave slowly lose it’s grandeur. Some of the less obvious effect we have on commercial caves: Loss of humidity due to artificial openings, moss and mold growth due to artificial lights, and a raise in the temperature simply by touring the caverns.
Squire Boone Caverns is a prime example of how humanity has evolved, from a time where the cave was slowly being destroyed to a time where the cave is starting to restore itself. We have evolved our role on the earth to a conscious effort to not only halt the impact we have, but reverse it. It is remarkable to see changes take place in an area that takes geologic time to develop.
Located in near Maukport, IN, Squire Boone Caverns is a beautiful cave on land that was once owned by Daniel Boone’s brother, Squire. It was discovered when they were hiding from indians in the late 1700’s, and Squire Boone still rests within the caverns after his death in 1815. The property also contains a grist mill and many shops selling handmade products such as soaps, baked goods and candles.

Squire Boone Caverns. June 2, 2011

Squire Boone caverns is blessed with a caver as a maintenance man, and he has prided himself in the last 8 years with restoring the cave to it’s original glory. He has installed humidity lock doors, has rewired all the lighting so that it is turned off after each tour goes through, and makes a concentrated effort to remove all moss and other bacteria that have been introduced into the cave as a result of careless tourism.

The largest growing rimstone dams, in Squire Boone Cavers, Indiana. June 2, 2011

Although we should, as humans, feel the need to care and restore all natural gems of the underworld, Squire Boone Caverns contains a particularly beautiful cave deposit that is well worth our attention in protecting. It contains the largest, still growing rimstone dam in the country. The speleothem deveopment is fairly advanced, and many of them that show past stress from loss of humidity (and thus loss of deposition) are showing a renewed water flow that should, over hundereds of years, begin the cave’s sculpture building again.
Humanity is an idea that has constantly been evolving. We once viewed ourselves as the owners of the Earth, and it was our job to conquer and dominate everything it had to offer. Luckily, the gift of being human is also to acknowledge mistakes. Many of us are beginning to realize our skills are better used to be caretakers of the Earth, here to reduce the impact that other, less educated members of our society provide.
We have all made mistakes, but the part that makes us who we are is the fact that we can recognize those and correct them in the future. We may have almost destroyed some things, and fully destroyed others, but we can fix that. After all, “We’re only human”.

The lake at Rising Park in Lancaster, OH. June 2, 2011
Squire Boone Caverns June 2, 2011
Squire Boone Caverns in Indiana. June 2, 2011. Some "squiggly" flowstone.
Squire Boone Caverns in Indiana. June 2, 2011
The spiral staircase leading down the artificial hole drilled for tourism in Squire Boone Caverns. Today it is also a humidity lock area. June 2, 2011
Deposits in Squire Boone Caverns, Indiana, June 2, 2011
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Day 23: Coral Caverns & Shawnee State Park, Pennsylvania

Tucked away in rural Pennsylvania sits a small cave waiting to be explored, off the beaten path  in the bank of the small mountains of Manns Choice, PA. The cavern is a bit difficult to find and is a fairly small opertion, but what you will find in the cave is a geologist’s candy. It is probably hinted at in the name of the cave, Coral Caverns, but what you will find inside are clear examples of a stromatolite coral reef from the days of the Devonian.

Stromatolite in Coral Caverns, Manns Choice PA, May 31, 2011

Coral Caverns is a privately owned cave. Small and quaint, what it lacks in the generic souvenir and touristy type shop it makes up for with an enthusastic cave owner who shows the cave with pride. Coral Caverns has been in operatiohn since 1932, a small cave discovered by accident when a quarry found the opening in 1928. The limestone is vertically bedded here, and the inside of the cave has some very well preserved stromatoporoid reefs, along with a moderate display of speleothems.

Coral Caverns May 31, 2011

The visitor center has several interpretative displays that can help teach about fossils and other cave life, especially helpful for kids who are thirsting for knowledge. The caverns are open on the weekends for the public to tour, so try to plan accordingly, although if you are organizing a group I am sure a quick call to the owner could arrange a tour time that is conveinent.

Coral Caverns, Manns Choice, PA May 31, 2011

Very near the cave is a wonderful state park that has camping amenities, Shawnee State Park . The campgrounds are large and beautiful, offering access to a large lake where you can canoe, fish or swim. The views are beautiful, as you can gaze across the lake towards the appalachian mountains in the distance.

Shawnee State Park Pennsylvania May 31, 2011

I could go on and on about how beautiful Coral Caverns was, or about the scenery of Shawnee State Park, but I think this is one of those times where the pictures should do the talking. Enjoy!

Coral Caverns in Manns Choice, PA. May 31, 2011
Coral Caverns in Manns Choice, PA. May 31, 2011
Looking up in a Coral Caverns Chimney in PA. May 31, 2011
Coral caverns May31, 2011
Hey geology buffs, can you determine tops? Pen for scale. Coral Caverns, May 31, 2011
The lanterns lining the entrance of Coral Caverns in Manns Choice, PA. May 31, 2011
Looking up in Coral Caverns. PA, May 31, 2011
The baby robin, newly hatched, in front of Coral Caverns. May 31, 2011
Shawnee State Park, Pennsylvania. You can rent boats for the lake. May 31,2011
Shawnee State Park Pennsylvania. May 31, 2011
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Day 20: Ontario, Canada-Bonnechere Caves

When you are truly passionate about something people take notice. Everyone that you know, and some you don’t, supply you with more information about the subject of your heart and the knowledge and experience simply snowballs. A wonderful effect of passion, because each day brings something new. In planning my trip I decided a visit to my friends in Canada was a must on my schedule. Shortly after organizing the dates my friends told me of a place to visit that I simply couldn’t refuse. Nestled in the Ottawa Valley of Ontario laid in wait something I had yet to experience: My first Canadian cave.

The "Canadian Passport" mark. (lol)
Renfrew, Ontario's Historic Swinging Bridge (Restored in 1983). May 28, 2011

Canada is a whole new animal for me, and this was my first visit. I was very excited about earning another stamp in my passport, but was disappointed to find that they don’t stamp it when you are crossing via vehicle. The universe didn’t seem to think that was vefry fitting for my picture-taking, thoroughly documenting ways of travel and I heard a loud shot as something hit my windshield only a few miles past the border. Something had slammed into my windshield (that I just recently replaced this year, I might add) creating a rather remarkable shape: A double “C” on the passenger side. My Jeep had, rather unfortunately, been branded with my trip to Canada.

Odi's King Burgers in Renfrew, Ontario. May 28, 2011
Poutine and a cheeseburger from Odi's in Renfrew, Ontario. May 28, 2011

All four of us (or rather 3 and a half since one was an adorable 2 year old) then headed into town where I was to partake of some local cusine before we headed to the caves. We dined at Odi’s King Burger in Renfrew, enjoying some Poutine. Poutine is a french dish, consisting of french fries covered in gravy and cheese. If you ask me, I think it was like a fried version of mashed potatoes and gravy. Delicious.

The Bonnechere Caves of Ontario, Canada. May 28, 2011
The Bonnechere Caves. May 28, 2011 in Ontario.

Bonnechere Cave is located north of Algonquin park and is located in fossil-abundant Ordovician limestone. The cave consists of passages, with no large rooms to speak of, and has very little ornamentation. I would place the very sparse speleothem development at less than 1%. This is quite obviously due to the nature of the cave since it has been mostly filled with rushing water in recent geologic times. The limestone of the cave may be older than some, but the constant rushing water that filled the caverns did not allow redeposition to occur in any large manner. The cave passageways are incredibly interesting. They very methodically follow prominant jointing in the cave’s home formation. It seems to be located all within the same formation, the limestone being all of the same type, but I have yet to complete the research to know which limestone this is.

The roaring waters of Bonnechere River in Ontario. May 28, 2011

The Bonnechere river roars past the cave and into one of the natural entrances carved by melting glacial waters. The entrance is best viewed from the other side of the river, where you can stand on the remnants of an old bridge. The water was pretty high today, this area of Canada suffering from the same high waters that much of America is suffering from this Spring.

Teh Bonnechere River, and it's namesake Cave's entrance. May 28, 2011 in Ontario.

My visit to this area of Canada was fantastic, especially since I was able to spend it with such wonderful and accomodating friends. Spending time with them and their son reminded me again how precious spending time with friends can be. I loved every minute of it, and it even made me think a second about having kids of my own. The passion of cave geology calls, however….someday in the distant future I suppose. For right now I have many great friends with cute kids to play with and enjoy (then send them back to their parents when they get grumpy! Ha ha!~)
Tomorrow I was to head off on my own again. I was going to miss spending time with my friends, but I had something pretty majestic to ease the pain: Niagara Falls. I’ll see you there, if I survive the barrel drop (j/k).
-Nicole

The Bonnechere River, rushing past the wild, abundantly blooming lilac bushes of Ontario. May 28, 2011
Some of the proliferous fossils that adorn Bonnechere Caves in Ontario. May 28, 2011
Could it be...cephalapoda? Why are you in the Bonnechere Caves? Oh...it's Ordovician? Of course you would hang out here. May 28, 2011
Some of the very sparse speleothem development present in Bonnechere. I have seen these many times, and I have named them "lizard backs". May 28, 2011 Ontario, Canada.
Emerging from the Bonnechere Caves to the trail. May 28, 2011 Ontario
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Day 14: Luray Caverns & Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

It is amazing, the things that are created by the Earth’s processes. While we have an understanding of what can be created in a century or less, the Earth creates something over millions of years. A cave is one of those miraculous Earth-created wonders that most of the world’s population has been unable to appreciate. It’s hard to comprehend something like Luray Caverns that has been building and growing for millions of years, it’s speleothems accumulating at one cubic inch every 120 years.

Dream Lake at Luray Caverns. The bottom is just a reflection of the top. May 22, 2011

I will preliminate the tales of Luray Caverns with something that may set you up for expectations, but you won’t be disappointed. Luray Caverns is one of the most beautiful caves I have ever had the pleasure to be in. It is so highly decorated there is scarcely a wall of limestone that doesn’t have some sort of deposit upon it. Every direction you look is picturesque, it is no wonder that the National Park Service designated Luray Caverns as a registered Natural Landmark.

An antique Luray Caverns sign. May 22, 2011

Luray Caverns was discovered in 1878 by Andrew Campbell of Luray, Virginia. He found some cold air blowing out of a sink hole and came back with more men to begin digging for what he knew had to be a cave. It is confined to a 100 foot thick zone in the Beekmantown Dolomite formation. It has no natural entrance to speak of, other than a very small, impassible hole where Mr. Campbell discoverd the blowing air. Perhaps the lack of openings allowed the cavern to develop so well, and so pristine. It has never been a bat hibernaculum, and no animals call the caverns home.

Fried "cave" eggs of Luray Caverns, Virginia. May 22, 2011 (They are actually broken stalagmites that break and are rounded by water erosion & redepostition)

The cave honestly put me into an emptional swirl, much like my first visit to Carlsbad Caverns in December 2009 (For those of you who haven’t followed me until now, click here for that story). This is only the second time I’ve experienced a cave so beautiful that I had to fight back tears. I know it sounds ridiculous, even I thought it was ridiculous….but it simply evokes that sort of emotion from me. The cave was beautiful, each room arguably more beautiful than the last. There were many unique formations, all with appropriate names.

Luray Caverns' Dream Lake. May 22, 2011
Pluto's Ghost, in the lower right, in Luray Caverns of Virginia. May 22, 2011

Pluto’s Ghost sits in Pluto’s Chasm, something you see several timess through the self guided tour. The audio tour is included with general admission, and is very informative. Titania’s Veil is a beautiful, stark white drapery that will amaze you. Saracen’s Tent is a beautiful drapery formed as a perfect tent, and some cave bacon on the side of it looks exactly like a towel. Dream lake is towards the beginning of the self-guided tour, and although the water is under 2 feet deep it reflects amazingly well and creates a perfect illusion.

In Saracen's Tent of Luray Caverns: A drapery that looks just like a bath towel. May 22, 2011
Titiania's Veil in Luray Caverns of Virginia. May 22, 2011

More intriguing to the average visitot, but cringing to the avid caver and geologist, are the Great Stalacpipe Organ. Boasting the title of the world’s largest musical instrument, this organ is electrically wired to specific stalactites throughout the cavern, each that creates it’s own note. It was created in 1954 by Leland Sprinkle, an electronic scientist at the Pentagon. Yes, the organ plays while you are touring the Cathedral room. It is on an automated system that plays every few minutes. While the thought of having instruments wires to the beautiful speleothems is not something I like to think about, the music is rather beautiful.

The Great Stalacpipe Organ of Luray Caverns, Virginia. May 22, 2011
The mechanism in Luray Caverns that strikes the stalactites, sounding the notes for the organ. May 22, 2011

Another tourist spot is the Wishing Well. All commercial caves have had area like this, where in the uneducated past visitors would throw coins into a deep pool to make a wish. Luray Caverns still has one today, the water turning a blueish green from all of the metals. It is with good cause, though… the coins get to be a foot or two thick every year or so, and the Caverns donates this money to various charities, and have donated more than $400,000 to good causes, cleaning out the pool every year before the coins decay.

The Wishing Well of Luray Caverns, Virginia. May 22, 2011

Don’t believe me yet?  Well here’s what the Smithsonian Institution reported in 1880 of Luray Caverns:
“…it is safe to say that there is probably no other cave in the world more completely and profusely decorated with stalactitie and stalagmite ornamentation than that of Luray”.
Alexander Brand, Jr. of the New York Times said:
“It’s a magnificent cave, the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. Trying to compare your cave to others would be like comparing New York City to the town of Luray”
If you still don’t believe me, look at the pictures at the end of this entry. I took hundreds while  visiting Luray and I had a hard time selecting which ones to share…there were simply too many beautiful places within those caverns. I recommend anyone that is ever in the Shenandoah Valley region to make Luray Caverns a priority stop.

Some local Rootbeer sold at Luray Caverns. Virginia. May 22, 2011
The Stalactite Cafe of Luray Caverns. May 22, 2011

Luray Caverns has more than just caves. It has a Car and Carriage Caravan museum, which houses many unique and rare automotbiles and carriages. I was able to see one of the earliest Dodge vehicles (being a Mopar fan, this was fantastic), and of course many of the early Fords including a Model N (to the love of my Father, who is a Ford man of taste).

A 1906 Ford model N at the Car & Carriage Caravan museum of Luray Caverns. May 22, 2011
The 1915 Dodge logo on one of their early cars. The Car & Carriage Caravan Museum at Luray Caverns.

There are also great views of the Shenandoah Valley, a nice cafe to eat at, several museums, camping and hotels within a short distance. I took the scenic route out of the Luray area, headed to Baltimore to visit my cousin. (Now, whether the country road travel was on purpose or an accident I will not divulge, but you can imagine…)
Since words simply can’t describe how beautiful today was in full, here are some pictures to enjoy. I’ll  see all of you here tomorrow, after I spend a day driving from Baltimore, Maryland to Boston, Massachusetts. A drive that promises to be scenic and interesting. Until then….
-Nicole

Luray Caverns. Luray, Virginia Mayy 22, 2011
Luray Caverns. Luray, Virginia. May 22, 2011
Luray Caverns in Luray Virginia, May 22, 2011. See the cave bacon?
Rimstone in Luray Caverns (only an inch tall or less). May 22, 2011
Luray Caverns. Notice Titiania's Veil in the background. May 22, 2011
A close up of the radiator cap on the Ford Model N. The Car & Carriage Caravan Museum of Luray Caverns, Virginia.
A Ford Model T at the Car & Carriage Caravan Museum of Luray Caverns.
One of the earliest Dodge vehciles, 1915. Car & Carriage Caravan Museum of Luray Caverns, Virginia.
An early Ford Radiator cap. The Car & Carriage Caravan Museum of Luray Caverns, Virginia.
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia- Countryside. May 22, 2011
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Day 13, Virginia: Shenandoah Valley & Natural Bridge Caverns

A valley that sits between the Blue Ridge and the Ridge & Valley parts of the Appalachian Mountains, Shenandoah is a gorgeous area full of rivers, farms, and most notably in my case, caves. Most of these caverns lie in the Beekmantown Formation of Ordovician age. Today was a chance to visit a cave of a different region to study it’s speleothem development, and to take in what Shenandoah Valley has to offer.
I had made a game plan for today and the next, but I decided to throw it out the window and go with the flow. I had no idea just how many caverns were in the area and I decided I would see at least two to get a better idea of this area’s karst development. The first cave I decided to see boasted the title of being the deepest cavern on the East coast: Natural Bridge Caverns.

The billboard at the entrance to Natural Bridge Caverns. Virginia. May 21, 2011

The cave tour wasn’t all that long, a guided tour through the caverns, and the cave wasn’t too highly decorated. Moss and bacteria covered many areas, including the limited speleothems that were present. It seems that this area is well known for the cave’s namesake, the Natural Bridge, and thus gains most of the company’s attention. Unfortunate because this cave could be a much better tour if they did a little preservation effort. The cave has two natural entrances, which may have explained the lack of speleothem development due to an increase in air flow.(Or perhaps the overlying lithology that is less permeable?)

The largest of the speleothems at Natural Bridge Caverns in Viriginia. May 21, 2011

I gathered my information and photos with scale from the cave, and more information to research later thanks to an incredibly helpful staff member behind the desk who answered my questions as honestly as he could, and admitted what he did not know. I always appreciate it when a cave tour guide admits they don’t know and offers a venue to obtain the information. The worst is when tour guides start making things up, and luckily this particular man (not my actual tour guide) of Natural Bridge Caverns was honest and helpful enough to do just that.

Some of the few soda straws in Natural Bridge Caverns. Virginia. May 21, 2011

After the cave it was time to do some country driving on my way to my KOA campsite. Shenandoah Valley is, after all, well known for it’s fantastic agricultural landscape nestled between the mountains. The view was gorgeous, rolling fields of green with the mountains standing against the sky in the background. I went to a grocery store to get something to cook at camp, having directions gained from my helpful KOA hostess. This was certainly the biggest grocery store I have ever seen. It was the size of a large Wal-Mart supercenter, yet it was all groceries! I had trouble locating my potatoes….until I realized they had their own section. The produce section of this grocery store is almost the size of the entire grocery store back in Missouri.

The KOA I stayed at for the night. I thought the sign was pretty. May 21, 2011. Shenandoah Valley, Virginia.

My campsite was pretty nice considering I am used to camping in State and National parks. KOA’s always have ample amenities thorughout the camp. My site was in a quiet, forested area near a small brook that trickled along. I was able to cook my food (while holding my breath, it turns out the Jalapenos from this monster of a grocery store were extra powerful and I couldn’t breath near my food while cooking..!!!) and settle down in front of my fire (which consisted of the fire starters, the logs never set….ha ha…) in peace and quiet.

My campsite at the Shenandoah Valley KOA (Firestarted burning, not the logs..ha ha!)

Tomorrow I plan to visit another cave of the Shenandoah Valley, and I have a couple ideas. I don’t know which one I’ll stop at for sure. Sometimes it’s best to play it by ear rather than have it planned. What I do know is that I will have fun no matter where I go. Adventurous spirits don’t find adventurous places, they find adventure everywhere, and anywhere, they go. Until tomorrow’s adventure-
Nicole

The grocery store even had a wide variety of different tomatoes. This was called the heritage tomatoe. It was tasty in my beef, potatoe, onion & jalapeno stir fry. May 21, 2011
The view on the way to my KOA campsite in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. May 21, 2011
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Day 1: Arkansas

Most of the time when our alarm clock goes off we hit the snooze. It goes off the second time and we either begrudgingly get out of bed, or we hit the snooze again. If you are like me you have to set your alarm clock at least a half hour earlier than you intend to wake up because this process repeats until you can’t fall back asleep without dreaming about your alarm’s incessant call.

The night of a trip is nothing like this. You wake up before your alarm goes off. Only 2 hours until you have to get up. Fall back asleep. The next time your eyes are open, it’s only 1 hour and 45 minutes until your alarm calls. It is one of those rare moments where you anticipate your alarm rather than dread it.

This morning was one of those days.

It was the start of my Grand Adventure tour, to which I call Caves, Waves & Future Paves. Aptly named, as the goals of this 77 day tour is to a) visit potential grad schools b)collect data, photos and other information from a broad spectrum of caves throughout the U.S. for my own research and c) to relax among the worlds wonders (including friends, family, mountains, canyons, geologic marvels and one of my personal favorite: coastlines).

Starting out in Missouri I will be doing two loops: My Eastern loop, which I started today, a short 3 day stop at home, and then my Western loop.(See the map below)

 

My first stop was just South of the Missouri border in Arkansas: Cosmic Caverns. Along the way I also had a plan of selling some of my stone creations, so I have produced a dozen “cave candle holders” and have them with me. (go to www.geojeep.com/stone-creations to see a picture of it) The Cosmic Caverns gift shop purchased two of them, and seemed likely to want to sell more. I couldn’t have been more thrilled.

Cosmic Caverns Berryville, AR May 9, 2011

 

 

The tour of Cosmic Caverns was fantastic. Taking tours on Mondays seems to be beneficial. I was on tour with one couple and the tour guide. The tour guide was very informative and knew a lot about the geology, mineralogy and history of the cave. I was very impressed since I often run into cave tours that know very little about the cave geology. I scribbled an entire page worth of notes in my field book, and noted the size of different items I used as scale so I could reference them later. The tour only costs $14 for general admission, so if any of you are near the area I highly recommend it. There are lots of beautiful formations to take pictures of and the group that works there is very friendly and knowledgeable. If they don’t know the answer they will try to find it for you.

 

Cosmic Caverns Berryville, AR May 9, 2011

 

My next stop was at another cave that was only a 30-40 minute drive from Cosmic: Mystic Caverns. Here I was going to actually tour two caves owned on the property: Mystic Caverns and Crystal Dome.

I was the only one who arrived for the next tour, and while they don’t normally allow a tour to go with just one person for safety reasons, the lady allowed me to go because she knew I was doing some research and data collection. Going on tours alone goes nice and fast, and especially if you are someone like myself who has been in enough caves that they don’t have to repeat the same script they have rehearsed uncountable times. I was able to get photographs of almost everything I wanted, with different items of scale.

Mystic Caverns, me in front of a large bell, May 9, 2011

Mystic Caverns is not a very big cave, but it is pretty well decorated- speleothems are in great numbers as compared to the size of the cave itself, although many of them are no longer depositing.

Crystal Dome. May 9, 2011.

Crystal dome is right next to Mystic, and run by the same private owner, but is not known to connect. While the tour route is pretty short the cave itself is much larger. It has a beautiful dome that is covered in draperies, and one of the biggest pieces of cave bacon I have ever seen. (Although the speleothem density is much more sparse than it’s neighbor, Mystic).

Crystal Dome. A large piece of cave "bacon". May 9, 2011

 

The drive from Mystic Caverns, which is located near Harrison, AR, to Russellville, AR where I was to meet my friend from high school was a beautiful drive. The weather was sunny and warm, so I was able to take the Jeep’s top down and enjoy the air. The view from the top of the mountains was breath taking.

As with any of my trips, I did have an almost crippling mishap. I had put my Jeep top down after touring Mystic Caverns and Crystal Dome and slid my side windows to my soft top under the back of my top, folded down. I was driving south on the curvy, steeply-graded, 7 highway that runs from Jasper, AR to Russellville, AR and I noticed a flash of black in my rear view mirror. One of my side windows had flown out onto the highway into the northbound lane. I pulled over into the nearest driveway, made a u turn and had to stop, mid highway with flashers on, to reclaim my lost window. Without that window, rain would not be a fun weather event. Luckily the time of day I was traveling afforded very little traffic to fight. Close call!

I am now in Russellville at a good friend of mine’s home, enjoying grilled chicken and other good food with her husband and her neighbors. The night is beautiful, and they live right next to a bayou. Tomorrow morning she is going to take me to Petit Jean National Park to see a 90′ tall waterfall, and then I will be treking my way in my Jeep with the top down to Mississippi so I can camp for the night.

It’s funny how we spend life dreading some alarm clocks and anticipating others. This Summer will be a part of my life where every alarm clock will be something I look forward to. I think it will prove to be a great lesson in life. Every day we wake, whether it be to the sun rising and the birds chirping or that incessant buzzing of an alarm, should be cherished. Each alarm allows you to start the journey of a new day.

 

Until my next alarm clock, here’s a couple more pictures of my journey!

-Nicole

Me, near the Buffalo River
The Buffalo National Scenic Riverway Campground, access to the river next to beautiful bluffs. May 9, 2011.
Looking back at my Jeep standing on the beach of the Buffalo River 5/9/11
I pulled over to look at the Boston Mountains along 7 highway fairly often. 5/9/11
Looking back at the Mountains at a lookout, South of Jasper, AR. 5/9/11
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The Grand Adventure: Stats

STATS FOR GRAND ADVENTURE Summer 2011

Days on Road: 74

Miles Traveled:17508

States (and Provinces) Covered: 39 states 1 province (MO,AR,TN,MS, LA, AL, FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD, PA, NY, MA, NH, ME, VT, ON, WV, OH, IN, KY, IL, IA, WI, MN, SD, WY, MT, ID, WA, OR, CA, NV, AZ, TX, NM, CO, KS )

Why & Where Did I Go On This Trip?

This is the Grand Adventure tour, of which I call “Caves, Waves & Future Paves”. Aptly named, as the goals of this 75 day tour were to: a) visit potential grad schools b)collect data, photos and other information from a broad spectrum of caves throughout the U.S. for my own research and c) to relax among the worlds wonders (including friends, family, mountains, canyons, geologic marvels, coastlines and, of course, caves). It was a life changing and inspiring journey that I want to share with everyone so that you also feel empowered to travel. I have long believed that the most successful education involves hands-on, in-person experiences, and this is it! Starting out in Missouri I did two loops: My Eastern loop, a short 3 day stop at home, and then my Western loop. (See Map Below)

The Grand Adventure approximate path.
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Facet Two. Seeing the World on a Dime: Carlsbad Caverns

Vacation is a time to get away from your normal daily routine. The time off, away from everyday stresses, is suppose to help you relax so you can come back refreshed and recharged. Is this really going to happen if you just spent all of your savings on vacation? No! Does this mean you can’t go on vacation? Certainly not!

Some of the best get aways are exactly that: getting AWAY from the normal, and even away from the costly swipes of your credit or debit card. On the average day an American consumer spends between $30 and $60 on food and drink, alone. (Don’t believe me? Start adding up that $4 coffee, that $8 “value” meal, that $7 alcholic beverage…)Imagine what your daily expenditures are in total. What if I told you that you could spend LESS than that while on vacation? Not only that, but you will be able to see some amazing natural wonders of the world, learn about geology, ecosystems, desert life and more, and camp under a star-filled sky that is unhindered by excessive city lights?

It’s not a story, it’s a fact.

Time to add another facet to your life. Let’s go visit Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

Carlsbad Caverns

There was a time, not long ago (in the first half of the twentieth century) that caves were the thing to go visit. Landowners scoured their property for entrances to these money-making caverns, in hopes of offering tours to the public. Route 66 even boasted Mammoth Caverns in Southern Missouri as one of it’s main tourist attractions. It was in a time when the sciences were just beginning to understand the greater significance of karst topography, and a cave’s delicate geology and ecology. When the emerging science began to show just how delicate these places are, and that it took thousands of years another phenomenon took place that gave these geologists a deep breath of relief. The public started moving away from recreation into a busier, more technologically advanced world. Along with the fall of the mineral springs resorts and other places of natural importance, so too did the business of show caves. It seems America got too busy to go on vacation, or to even find times to relax. Instead we found time for therapists, psychiatrists and more doctor visits. I’m pretty sure these things cost more than a vacation, and are much less enjoyable.

Today, we know a LOT more about caves, and what they have to offer. We know that a single stalactite could take thousands of years to be deposited, and the cavern itself took thousands of years before that to form so that the stalactite even had room to “grow”. Responsible show caves take care to preserve the cave for all of it’s beauty. You won’t find soda straws and stalagmites for sale in cases at the entrance anymore, and the tour guides certainly won’t ask you to take home your favorite cave pearl. Today show caves do everything they can to protect the environment. They add in humidity controlling door locks (double, or more, sets of doors designed to minimize the loss of humidity in a cave), they carefully design pathways as to avoid disturbing any more of the cave than necessary, and they educate the public about the marvels of these underground sanctuaries.

If you go to Carlsbad Caverns you can visit a place just like this, and for next to nothing. This national park charges a mere $6 for entry through the natural entrance to the cave, a tour that can last hours if properly appreciated. Not only do they offer this, but also tours for the more adventurous spirit that go off-the-trail (they book in advance, so plan accordingly). The park itself is full of hiking trails with informative signs. The camping is on the cheap, the food is inexpensive (especially if you decide to grill, like any respectable camper should) and the views are fantastic whether it is day or night. The park is even pet friendly! While they don’t allow animals in the caverns, they do have a pet sitter at the visitor’s center where your furry friend can hang out in the AC with fresh water and food while you explore- for a $5 daily fee. The hiking trails are all free to roam and have fantastic views of canyons and mountains.

If you aren’t the “camping type” then just drive up to the cave’s namesake city, Carlsbad New Mexico, and get a hotel. I stayed at a fair hotel for only $35 a night, that included a free hot breakfast.

 

To read the first chapter in this series,Facet One,: Click Here

 

Carlsbad Caverns May 2010

 

Cave Pearls in Carlsbad Cavern's Rookery (on the Wild Cave Tour of Lower Cave)

 

The view from up top Carlsbad Caverns National Park

 

Carlsbad Caverns Dec 2009

 

The view of a canyon in Carlsbad Caverns National Park

 

Me, visiting Carlsbad Caverns in Dec 2009

 

 

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Carlsbad Caverns

I’m in love. Have I told you that? I could live there and still not be satisfied with my time spent. That’s right, I’m in love with Carlsbad Caverns.

After my last entry I went to eat breakfast at Denny’s since I had waken up too late for the free breakfast the hotel provides. I ate my food so fast I think the waitress, and a couple of the other diners, were astonished. I must have looked starved but I didn’t care- I was in a hurry to get to Carlsbad Caverns.

Carlsbad Caverns is about a 20 mile drive west from the city of Carlsbad. When you reach the sign proclaiming “Carlsbad Caverns” you still have another 6 miles to drive. I stopped to take a few pictures in front of the sign, a couple with my digital and one with my phone. When you are traveling alone it is always interesting to get pictures of yourself on your travels. For safety reasons I usually prefer to wit until I am alone, which doesn’t seem to be a problem in most areas, then find a safe spot to sit my camera and set it on a 10 sec delay to give me time to get into position. Most of the time in these situations I use the hood or roof of my car, and this time was no different. I took a few pictures with the digital. As another car approached the pull-off I finished my last picture and jumped back in the car.

A lady and her son get out to take a picture by the sign. On the way up to the sign she suddenly jumps in front of my car as I start to pull out.

“Wait! Wait!” she cries, waving her arms.

I stop and open the door (my Dodge Stealth’s drivers side window doesn’t work) and she picks my camera up off the hood of my car and hands it to me.

“You don’t want to lose this do you?” She laughs.

I thank her over and over. I ask if she wants me to take a picture of her son and herself but she says no thanks. This makes the second time I was saved by a complete stranger in the past few days. I think a trend is starting to develop.

I pull up to the visitor center in Carlsbad Caverns National Park, which sits perched on top of a small mountain, and took notice of a sign as I pulled up. “Absolutely NO pets left in vehicles or allowed in caverns. Must use available kennel”. I hope this isn’t going to be too expensive…

I see a lady leaving the visitor center and I ask her about the kennel. She says it looks like it is a good place, and that it costs $5 for the day. Not bad. This is going to make my day much easier!

After picking out a kennel for Ellie and providing her with a fresh bowl of water I wander into the visitor center to purchase my tickets. I had REALLY wanted to go on a wild caving tour, but when I went to purchase tickets two weeks ahead of time online they were already sold out for this day. I was hoping for a cancellation or two when I arrived but there was no such luck. The only tour available was of course the self-guided main tour that takes you through the natural entrance, descending over 750’ and the winding through 1.25 mi of pathways until you reach the Big Room pathways. The Big Room, which includes the Hall of Giants, is quite literally a BIG ROOM full to the brim with gorgeous speleothems of all sorts. Over 6 football fields could fit inside this cavern area. Now THAT is big. This tour only costs $6, and is full to the brim with exciting things to see of the underworld. I HIGHLY recommend going on this tour. It will certainly be the best $6 you’ve ever spent!

I paid for my ticket and headed down the pathway towards the gate where a park ranger gives you a drill down of what you can and cannot do. No food or drink allowed in the gave, this includes gum. Kids must stay within arm’s length of their guardian. Absolutely NO TOUCHING of the formations. (For those of you unfamiliar with a cave’s natural state, touching the formations can actually kill them. The oils from your hands stop the water/mineral mixture from adhering to the rocks surface and it stops growing.) Then, a handful of people at a time, the release you into the pathway that descends past the bat watching auditorium and into the great underground.
As I walk past the bleachers that are there for the bat fly-out I remind myself I must return in the spring to see this. Every night from about March thru October thousands of bat swirl out of the cave into the darkening sky to feed on mosquitoes and other annoying bugs. Every night they take the exact same path, and have been doing so for years and years.

The descent into the cave is a pretty nice walk. The pathways are very rough, like a chunkier sandpaper, so that you don’t slip walking down the steep grade. Each time you turn the path you can feel the air of the cave hit your face. It’s a familiar feeling for me and I absolutely love the scent that accompanies it. The air is slightly cool, but only because it is damp. The smell is a damp, earthy tone that reminds me of several things from my childhood that I enjoyed. For example, The “Fire in the Hole” underground rollercoaster that sprays water on you at Silver Dollar City (Branson, MO) has a similar scent. Anytime I am in a cave I breathe it in deeply and let it calm my senses.

The tour of the cave itself is hard to explain except in pictures, and I took plenty (over 230 of them). Every time I turned a corner I would think that certainly it would end soon. Nothing so wonderful could last that long. But turn after turn I was further amazed at the increasing prevalence of speleothems and the opening of the rooms into larger and larger ones. It was almost too much to take in.

In fact, I had to sit down on a bench after I passed the Hall of Giants. I was so happy, and the caves were so much to take in, I almost started crying. I fought with myself, sitting there in that beautiful underworld. I am NOT an emotional little girl, I told myself. I don’t cry when I am overly happy, it just doesn’t happen. I fidgeted with my camera, pretending to mess with the settings and furrowing my brow in frustration of my sudden emotional turn. An Indian man approached me and asked me if I needed someone to take my pictures. I smiled and used it as an excuse to shove away these emotions and handed him my camera. He took a picture, of which I am not sure I will post because I look a little out of it, and then I continued along my way.

I also came across a really nice park ranger along my travels in the caverns. She works at Carlsbad Caverns for 6 months, then travels up to a Colorado State Park and works there for another 6 months. We talked about caves for a while, and she told me about some friends she has that work at Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and the research they get to help out with. I told her about “The Longest Cave” and encouraged her to read it, and showed her some pictures I had on my phone of bats in Missouri caves. She gave me some information on how I could get a job working for one of the National Park caves. I stored it in my phone. This was certainly something to SERIOUSLY consider.

When I finally reached the end of the tour, where a large series of elevators take you up through the rock (with windows on all sides so you can watch the rock fly past you), I was again feeling that sweeping emotion. I walked into the bookstore, which uses all it’s profits for cave conservation, and concentrated on getting some souvenirs and post cards. While sitting in front of the post cards staring at them but not seeing them a man I had met earlier in the caves approached me and asked me if I had enjoyed the tour. I chatted with him a while, he said he could tell I was a caver by my gear. (I had brought in my adventure bag, which is stained from cave mud and had a small led flashlight attached to the zipper). He told me about some caves from where he lives back in Texas and told me it’d definitely be something worth seeing. He introduced himself as Victor and said it was nice meeting me, I shook his hand and gave him my first name as well and he left with his family.

I ended up purchasing a book and a t-shirt, and a few postcards. The t-shirt I am in love with. It is made out of bamboo, so it is environmentally friendly, and has Carlsbad Caverns in beautiful script down my left side. I picked up Ellie, who was soaking wet from being in her water bowl, and we left the top of the mountain.

On the way down the winding roads we stopped at one of the trails and walked to the end where there was a wonderful outlook over the canyons. Ellie got plenty of exercise, and we both enjoyed the warmth of the sun after spending the previous day in a winter wonderland. The sun was nearing it’s position for set and I decided to head back to the hotel which was about 20 minutes away.

I decided that since I was in New Mexico the dinner of choice should be some authentic Mexican. I headed into town and discovered that since it was Sunday the couple shacks I had seen along the main drive were closed. I decided to use my borrowed GPS to locate a Mexican restaurant.

Here’s the time to explain the characteristics of the GPS I borrowed for this trip. It is older, and when you plug it into your cigarette lighter outlet it takes several minutes, sometimes up to 10 or 15, to warm up and figure out where you are. It also has a very sensitive power cable that if you touch the wrong way restarts the unit, and you have to wait again for it to find where you are. It is also a little out of date with the information in it. After the GPS warmed up I followed it to a couple places that were closed, and the final attempt at finding a restaurant ended at an empty grass lot.

Much less to say, and a little amusing, I ended up getting Taco Bell.

It was a wonderful day and I will certainly treasure these experiences for a lifetime. Tomorrow I continue my journey to another land, I will be driving almost 1000 miles to the west, back to my birthplace.

GEOLOGIC NOTES:

In this blog I use speleothem and formation interchangeably. Formation is not necessarily an appropriate term for a speleothem, but it is used widely to describe stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, cave pearls, cave popcorn and more. If you want to get technical, these definitions are:

SPELEOTHEM:

any of the crystalline deposits that form in a solution cave after the creation of the cave itself. These deposits are generally composed of calcium carbonate dissolved from the surrounding limestone by groundwater. Carbon dioxide carried in the water is released as the water encounters the cave air; this reduces the water’s capacity to hold calcite in solution and causes the calcite to be deposited. These deposits may accumulate to form stalactites, stalagmites, flowstone, helictites, cave pearls, and many other formations. Deposits formed along ceiling cracks may produce drip curtains or draperies that may then reach the floor to become walls. Speleothems may grow in pools to form the nodular encrustations of cave coral or the natural dams that continually elevate themselves through accretion of calcite. The pure white of the calcium carbonate is often tinted with hues of red, yellow, and gray and may even be translucent. The growth rate of speleothems is highly variable due to seasonal variations in the rate of flow, carbon dioxide content, and other factors. Caves owe most of their beauty and much of their interest to these secondary growths.

FORMATION:

5. geology
a.  the fundamental lithostratigraphic unit
b.  a series of rocks with certain characteristics in common.

I would also like to add some information about Carlsbad Caverns versus the caves I usually visit in the limestone beds of Missouri. You may notice that most caves are carved out of water, and tend to have a long, linear shape to them as the groundwater travels in a stream or certain direction. After the limestone, or other soluable rock formation, is dissolved, the deposit of speleothems can begin. As the groundwater continues to trickly through the bedrock and it reaches the cave the water is enriched in minerals that get redeposited on the walls, ceilings, floor, etc of the cave. This is how a speleothem is, generally, formed.

Carlsbad Caverns has a very large and open nature to each of their rooms, and while the speleothems in Carlsad Caverns are formed in the same manner as above, the cave itself formed in a different manner than many of the caves we visit in the midwest.

Somewhere between 4 and 6 million years ago, water that was rich in hydrogen-sulfide mixed with other rainwaters to form sulfuric acid. It is this acid that allowed the caverns to form in large, magnificent rooms rather than long, lineated passages like those we are so familiar with.

For more information about this, I highly recommend visiting the National Park Service’s website on Carlsbad Caverns, particularly this page:

http://www.nps.gov/cave/naturescience/cave.htm