May 28…. Down deep

The deepest point in the longest cave. That has to be worth something, experience-wise, right??

Today we went down deep, to the (currently) deepest (publicly accessible) point in the cave. So many disclaimers. The River Styx Tour.

In 1989 or 1990, I was here and we went all the way down to the basement and took a short jon boat ride on Echo River. In 1993, a falling rock took out part of the trail, and the boat ride and the last bit to the river and back was discontinued. Today, we made it down to the point that we could see the river below us but that’s all.

Along the way, the ranger spoke all about the geology of the cave, the way it was shaped by water and time, how specific passageways came about, and some of the science behind these tunnels. Limestone, sandstone, carbonic acid, vadose vs phreatic tunnels, Susanne was in her element. Rocks, rocks, and more rocks. 😂

After the river, starting back to the surface, there’s a giant (tall) room called Mammoth Dome. Originally, tourists had to ascend a precarious rope ladder, up 192 feet. 😳

Today, there’s a solid towering staircase, cutting back and forth, flight after flight.

At the top, we walked a hundred yards and popped out on a public walkway with tourists wandering past. Crazy!! Feeling like we were in deep cave to suddenly finding out we were feet from a wide open passage and a short walk to the surface was disorienting. This cave is just a giant labyrinth, winding and snaking underneath the earth. We’ve covered six miles over the last three days, with some of it being repeated passageways. Out of 426 mapped miles.

We gotta get busy.