Colossal Cave | Arizona

The other day I went to the Colossal Cave outside Tucson.  I've made it a point to see any caves or caverns in my travels.  There are dry caves and wet caves.  This was a dry cave, meaning there is no water filtering down from the surface.  If there is water flowing into the caves, that means formations are still being formed - stalactites, stalagmites and quite a few others.

The scenery from the top of the hill was typical Arizona desert, complete with Saguaro cacti, one of my favorites. 

 

Tours are given multiple times daily, and luckily, I was able to join a small group.  Our guide gave some history of the area and the caves.  It was discovered long ago by Indian tribes.   In the late 1800s, it was also used by cowboys who needed a hideout.  It's a great place to visit on a hot day - it's always 70 degrees in the cave, no matter how hot or cold it is outside.

 

 

 

The following photos show some of the items discovered when the land owner decided to open the cave for tourists. 

 

And then there are items used by the more recent explorers, as well as the CCC group that built paths through the cave to provide safe areas for tours.

 

And more rock formations.

 

 

 

 

 

Arriving in New Mexico

Yesterday I drove from Fort Stockton, Texas to the "town" of Whites City.  In town is one large store consisting of about 3 large rooms consisting of a few groceries, T shirts and other souvenirs.  Across the street is a large restaurant and some motel-looking rooms.  There is a post office, an over-priced gas station and a tiny museum.  And the RV park that is just outside the gateway to Carlsbad Caverns. 

On the way over, the rest of west Texas was what I expected it to look like, flat dry land with some bushes trying to grow, lots of oil drilling rigs, and in some places, huge round storage tanks for the oil coming out of those wells.  It was a two lane highway with a speed limit of about 70, nothing fancy.  The state line was nothing fancy, a few signs that had been used for target practice - Welcome to New Mexico, Mountin Time,  State Law, use seat belts. 

For some reason, the terrain became a little more hilly right after passing into New Mexico, and the oil rigs were still in evidence.  I found the RV Park, expensive not because it was an oasis in the desert and luxurious.  No, it was expensive because it was the only game in town, the only game for miles around!  I set up camp and had lunch, then drove up to the Caverns.  The photo above is from one of the roadside lookouts. 

I'm not going to bore anyone with details of the formations in the caves, since I've done that in a few other blogs.  But, I will mention one fact I probably didn't - these places are very far underground.  In this instance, if you don't take the steep, winding path of the natural trail for about an hour, you take the elevator.  Being the adventurous sort of person, I took the path on the first day and the elevator on the second day.  The elevator takes you down 850', be sure to clear your ears on the way.  That's not the bottom either, there are caves under these caves and they all continue for miles. 

The adventure continues tomorrow as I move north in New Mexico.

Caverns of Sonora

Sonora, Texas is just off I10, the interstate that goes through Texas. It’s pretty much isolated, not too many towns along that road in west Texas. So, anyone who wants to see these caverns is going to be out of the way. My phone barely worked there.

Sonora has a cute little historic district with some old buildings that date back to the 1800s or early 1900s. The court house is quite impressive. I went to the Old Ice House Ranch Museum, housed in the old ice house. This museum is filled with artifacts from that time period, as well as more modern items, such as World War II ration stamps. I was talking with the woman who runs this museum (and owned some of the display pieces). She told me that most people go to San Angelo for shopping such as monthly groceries, clothing and other items. San Angelo is about 60 miles away.

The main tourist draw is the Caverns, an extensive, live underground cavern with amazing formations. We were able to see less than 2 miles of it, but it extends about 8 miles total. Amazingly, this cavern has formations in it that I haven’t seen in other caverns or caves. It is billed as the foremost show cavern in the world.

The most photographed area of the cavern is the first photo above, Horseshoe Lake, about 5 feet deep, although the water is so clear you think it’s shallow. The guide casually mentioned that we were inside a giant geode. A geode is a rock that has mineral matter in it when it is opened. Some of them have brilliant colors and designs and others are just plain. An internet search will give you an idea of what it is. Some can be as small as a golf ball or as large as a boulder.

I never get tired of these caverns, so after a few more stops, I’ll be on my way to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, one of the more famous ones.