Luray Caverns

This was a really interesting cave!

I like caves. I like visiting them, walking around, looking at all the different features.

I visited my first cave when I was traveling out West. They said you needed to bring at least two different sources of light, and four was better, plus water, jackets, shoes that could get wet. There were no lights, other than the ones you brought. And there was a lot of scrambling over rockfalls, through lava tubes. That was after I climbed down a ladder, into a dark hole in the ground to get there. It was kind of hardcore for someone who just wanted to be a random tourist, and have an introduction to caves. I didn’t last long; but it was interesting!

After that, my cave exploration was tamer, and more fun for me. Guides, electric lights, small groups trudging together. The Luray Caverns was that kind of cave.

You start off in this kind of inauspicious location. On days when they have big lines of people, this is probably useful in keeping lines set up. You buy a ticket online, and they are timed. So it’s never going to be to be too crowded; but crowd control is always important! I arrived just as a couple busloads of day camp kids were charging inside; and I was concerned! But I headed in this direction slowly, and wasn’t covered in screaming kids (much).

And there was education! Look: karst! Our libraries across Minnesota have traveling displays we can share with patrons, and we’ve enjoyed the karst display a couple of times. (It comes with a big rock, which I’m grateful no one has thought to bonk their fellow students with!)

This is a self-guided cave, so you start at the time on your ticket, but you then wander around alone. No danger at all in this - there is one path, and you can’t really get off of it. (And shouldn’t! Cave environments are fragile.) When you start off, there are a lot of people around you. By the time I was near the end, I was alone for a while as I looked at things and took pictures of everything - and that was nice.

Okay, let’s go look at the cave!

This is what it looks like when you come inside. Very large, lots of space and things to look at. There were a few staffers there, handing out brochures with information about different things to see as you walk through the cave.

There are a lot of things that are labeled in the cave; but this is just “really cool stuff” I guess. (Maybe not an official name!) If you are not a cave person, I have two vocabulary words. A stalactite is the stuff hanging from the ceiling; a stalagmite is the stuff that grows from the floor. (Someone told me a long time ago that you remember the difference because “mites” crawl on the floor. It works for me!)

This is one of the early things you see, and it’s very cool! It’s not as tall as you might think at first. This is called Dream Lake. This is an underground lake, and it’s reflecting the stalactites on the ceiling! It’s quite large, and you can walk along it for a little while and see all of the water. It’s kind of weird to be underground and looking at what seems like a small lake. But of course, water is there before it bubbles up for us to see it on the surface. Ahhhhh…science. Geology. (It’s clearly not my strength; but it’s cool!)

This area is called the Giant Redwood. It’s a little hard to get the full perspective here, but these are HUGE! You can see the railing on the bottom left corner of the picture, for a little perspective. It’s pretty intimidating to be walking around underground, and look up at these features so high above you. And when you think that it takes millions of years to form each one of these amazing creations - it’s just…a wordless experience. I’m always surprised we’re allowed to come into caves as tourists, because they can be so fragile; but it’s so beautiful I’m very grateful!

And here I’m standing on the walkway, looking down over the side. It goes waaaay down. I’m not someone afraid of heights, and I don’t feel queasy when I’m up high. But I am also conscious that if we didn’t have all of these nice electric lights that the company has installed, the darkness is beyond anything you can imagine. I’ve been on a few cave tours where they gather everyone together and turn off the lights. It is literally darker than anyone has ever seen on the surface. You can’t see your hand in front of your face, you can’t see any outlines, you can’t see anything at all. And if the power goes out, that’s what’s happening down there. (I had a flashlight in my pocket!)

I was trying not to get people in the pictures, but here are people standing with their back to me - just to give some perspective on how BIG these things are. I had to keep reminding myself that nobody built this, nobody designed it. Nature just happened to drip water in the right way - for a million years or so. And this is what you get. Amazing.

This feature was named Saracen’s Tent. I tried to get a couple of pictures here, so you can see it. I’ve never see anything like this! The rock looks like fabric! It looks like flowing robes. It’s just amazing to see, and I stood here for a while just staring at it. Once again: I had to keep reminding myself that this just happened. Nobody made this or designed it or planned it. It’s beautiful.

Now I’ve walked into an area called Giant’s Hall. Just to give some perspective: you can see the tip of someone’s head on the bottom of this picture. I couldn’t even get anyone else in the picture for perspective!

Okay, I’ll stop just talking how tall everything was. Let’s look at something different.

Yes, your eyes do not deceive you. THAT’S AN ORGAN IN THE CAVE!!!! When you are on the more special tour, apparently they might play the organ. And somehow, it hits stalactites? I’m pretty sure that’s what they said, but I have no idea how that works. (I was not on the fancy tour!) This was a huge room, and there were folding chairs. They give performances here! Not just organ concerts; apparently there are also dances and other performances. Not scientific, but the arts are also important. And: how cool! I’d definitely come to a performance in a cave!!!

And this is one of the most unusual things I’ve seen in a cave. (Other than an organ!) Usually the rules are really strict, really fussy: nothing gets dropped, and don’t throw money because coins will be damaging for the cave. But in this spot, it’s encouraged! This is called the the Wishing Well. They gather up the money from this area once a year, and it’s donated to different charities. There is a big sign over this lagoon area, listing all the charities donated to and the amounts distributed each year. I was kind of amused at the changes to society: nobody carries coins anymore! So, apparently people have started throwing in dollar bills. Or, giving them to their kids to throw, probably - there are tons of kids here! (Caves are a good place to bring kids; there really isn’t anything they can break, and it would be hard for them to get too far away from you!) The lights shining up through the water really give it an interesting look.(But unless a cave tells you very specifically that it’s okay, NEVER throw any coins down in a cave!)

Tomorrow is going to be kind of a Part Two to this one, because this whole entertainment location was so big and it had a LOT of things to see! So, we’re done with the cave, but there is more to explore.