Just a short 4.5 hour drive over from GSM National Park was this gem! We learned from our tour guide that it was the second oldest tourist attraction in the US! It is also the world’s longest cave with over 400 miles explored so far. I always love seeing caves because the parks seem so ordinary driving in, with this amazing network of caves waiting just below the surface.
Abby picked the domes and drip stones tour. The trail description says that you have to ascend/descend over 500 steps to get in and out of the cave. When I read that I didn’t think too much of it – but when we got there I realized there was a critical distinction that NEEDED to be made. Just how many of those steps are ascend, and how many of them are descend??? The climb down into the cave was steep, wet and very tight in spots. We descended a lot of stairs – more than I had a care to count. All I could think when we finally made it to the bottom was that I hoped there was a different way out! Luckily we were able to clarify that there was a different door. Once that was off my mind I was able to enjoy the cave a lot more! Since they did not allow flash, I was limited in the pictures I could take given the amount of lighting.
At one point our guide stopped us and showed us one of the camelback crickets. He just grabbed it right off the wall!
Once we noticed them, I couldn’t stop seeing them! They were everywhere!
There were three distinct parts of the cave, the first was wet and still alive forming and changing. The second was dead and dry – mostly just regular rock on the walls and around the floors. The third section was more along what I was expecting for the whole cave. I got some decent pictures in this section since the lighting was a bit brighter.
We also saw a piece of the ceiling where the water leaks through – our guide mentioned that when its raining there is even more water that comes through.
All in all the tour was very cool. We got to explore a different kind of park, and Abby got to ask all of her intelligent questions 🙂
Kelsey's Climb to 59 (+4) 