#show cave

[mitsdriveswhere]

there is no color correction involved in this pic - the water really is green.

Caverns of Sonora

[thesilversun]

Stump Cross Caverns, North Yorkshire. Visited here last month with an old friend from university. It's really worth a look if you are interested in caves and stalagmites, stalactites and rock formations.

Although one word of warning, there is not accessibility friendly access to the caves, due to the way that they have been formed. Access to the portion that are open to the public down quite a long flight of stone step, there are places where the floor is uneven and some points where the ceiling is low and you have to crouch walk through.

They do give everyone going down into the caves a hard hat, and it is a very good idea to wear it. The cave network is far more extensive than what is open to the public, but because of how difficult it is to get to some areas of it, those area are only occasionally open to experienced cavers.>

It also has a nice cafe and gift shop, and the views outside hills and more are really good.

[sacactivecavers]

Lehman Cave (Great Basin National Park)

These are some photos from our recent trip to Lehman Cave, a show cave, in Great Basin National Park. Too short on time and having taken the trip on too short a notice, we were unable to connect with local cavers who would be able to show us around on our trip east from Sacramento through HWY 50 in Nevada on our way up to Salt Lake City. We knew there were caves on the way due to the selection of Ely, NV, as the site of the 2016 NSS Convention. 

The trip east on HWY 50 has several archeological sites and side trips that make an otherwise flat trip through the desert interesting. About an hour-and-a-half east of Reno is Sand Mountain, a 600-foot tall set of sand dunes. During a summer visit two years ago, the site was overrun with off-road vehicle enthusiasts who zipped up and down the sand dunes on quads and bikes through the night. Taking a trip during the week and the colds of January provided us quiet, peaceful dunes. Contrary to the previous trip, we were able to climb the dunes on foot without fear of getting knocked out by a quad sailing over a ridge.

Great Basin Nation Park is sparsely visited, especially during the winter, when several roads in the park are closed. January 2013 saw fewer than a thousand visitors to the park. A ranger there told us they've had days with zero visitors to the visitor center in the weeks after the New Year.

In the park, we learned there are more than 40 identified caves within park boundaries, but most are closed to recreation due to bad air or to protect bats. 

Lehman Cave is a show cave. It feels strange to book a cave tour in advance (tickets are $10/person). It feels strange to enter a cave through a concrete hallway that leads on a paved path through formations. It feels stranger to enter a cave without helmets, backup lights, and knee pads. It feels strange to enter the cave with 29 strangers who are equally unequipped. It's totally worth it. The formations are spectacular and they're lit beautifully.

The ranger leading the tour started out by passing around broken formations that had been removed from the cave. He said he insists on doing this to remove the temptation for participants to touch formations inside the cave. The ranger was able to impress on the group the delicate nature of cave environments and the importance of attempting to preserve them without coming off as preachy. During the tour, I heard participants self-policing, telling each other (respectfully) to be careful around the formations.

The other SAC caver on the trip with me insisted I take a photo of this light switch camouflaged into a cave wall.

  Apologies for the poor photo quality (these were taken with my phone) for the rest of these. They don't particularly do them justice. You can find much better photos searching online.

Lots of photos were taken of this one. Floor and ceiling formations within a few decades of forming a column.

[fmlpkm]

"If u put some ice on the gum, will crack and come right off of them soles." Psh. If you even touch my sn33kz, we're gonna mince words real quick. I kicked yr dog for sniffs. Wore em aut last night to Show Cave 2 c Disaro DJ, was swimming in Gvcci Hvcci heaven yall. Bitch's dun knw me. Gurr cum up like, "zOMGz, those r so kewt! where u git em?" I didn't even say n e thing. Just pushed her into her friend, flick'd my ciggie to the ground, pull'd up my hood, dropp'd teh the grovnd n busted the sickest windmill EVR! Wen my wrists started to ache frm the carpal tunnel, i got up, dusted my kicks and moonwalked my way out that mess.

Like, BITE ME. No... srsly, plz. I like eet.

FML//PKM