Friday, July 31, 2009

Sequoia NP - Crystal Cave

In Sequoia NP we went for a guided tour to the beautiful marble Crystal Cave. It is one of more than two hundred caves in the park, but the only one open to the public. You can see it if you sign up for a guided tour, which can be as short as 45 minutes or as long as six hours. We went for the forty-five minute tour and it definitely felt too short.

The cave is absolutely amazing - full of soda straws, stalactites, stalagmites, columns and draperies. I would definitely recommend seeing it if you are ever in the park.

Stalactite and stalagmite on the way to connect, in a few hundred years...


Column - a result of successful connection:


My parents, also happily connected:


Impressive draperies:






Stalactites:


Nice stalagmite:


More draperies and stalactites:




Waterfalls on the Cascade Creek leading to the cave: