Today was the first of our "dirty" cave tours, crawling up, over, under, and through the cave to places most people never visit. This is intentional on the part of the park; human impact is a serious issue.
Following our safety talk, designed to assure the guide that we all really wanted to be there and were ready for the intensity of the tour, we donned our gear and headed into the cave.
We immediately maneuvered through tight, twisting passageways to reach our first room. I fared better than some, due to the combination of my climbing experience, yoga, and body type. I am well built for slithering through tight spaces while still being able to reach across and over things.
As we progressed through the cave we stopped regularly, waiting for people to make their way through difficult passageways. This gave me time to gaze around each part of the cave, taking in all the features that surrounded me. They physical challenges of our adventure only added to the amazing cave features we saw. Even while climbing up slick quartzite using a knotted rope, my knees, and butt, I occasionally took the time to cavern gaze, however I can only hold myself in position while dangling from a rope for a limited amount of time.
At the terminus of our trip we visited the Hall of the White Giant, a large room with a giant white column of pure calcium rising from the floor. Much of the rest of the room was full of stalactites and stalagmites. The whiteness of the room glitters in our headlights as we tried to absorb the beauty that surrounded us, made even more spectacular by its remoteness.
The journey back followed our footsteps, retracing them much more quickly as we covered now-familiar ground. Passages near the entrance that had seemed tight now felt spacious. The hall we exited into loomed immensely. While we returned exactly the way we came to our starting point, we each were metamorphosed by our journey into the depths of the cave.
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