We reserved a morning and afternoon cave tour. Between tours, we ate lunch in the light.
Our first tour took us to King's Palace, a tunnel only accessible to guided groups. It is near the Big Room. In 1898, Jim White, a 16 year old ranch hand, noticed what he thought was smoke on the horizon. Concerned, he went to investigate and discovered it was thousands of bats flying out of a cave. Jim began exploring the cave over the next several years. He often went alone only guided by his candle lantern. His lantern only lit his path 15 to 20 metres ahead of him. He marked rocks to help guide his return. White discovered several tunnels like the one that led to King's Palace. Within King's Palace, there are four chambers. Each chamber has a diverse variety of cave features, for example, stalagmites and draperies, and a flat floor, a very unusual feature in caves.
The ranger turned off the lights to demonstrate the natural darkness of King's Palace. It was pitch black! Then, he took on the role of Jim White scrambling through a tunnel of rocks, then suddenly stopping, realizing there is a break in the rocks. His candle lantern only gives him a view of 15 to 20 metres, but he knows he has found an amazing discovery. White names the four chambers King's Palace because, in the cave features, he sees all kinds of royal images, for instance, a throne for a king and queen. Then, his lantern burns out, and he searches his pockets for a match. He panics, then he finds another match, his last one. He lights his lantern then hurries out of the chamber (leaving us in darkness). A powerful reenactment of White's adventure... and a lasting impression of our descent 800 feet underground. 
Our second tour was through Left Hand Tunnel. It is a candle-lit lantern tour through an undeveloped section of the cave. The dirt trail winds over uneven surfaces with some steep slippery slopes, around cavern pools and fragile formations.
Today, the outside temperature dipped to 4 degrees Celsius and it rained in the afternoon. A good day to be underground! Cave temperature is about 13 degrees Celsius (on average).
Kudos to the two of you for venturing into the unknown and without a guide! Yikes!
ReplyDeleteThe section from the natural entrance is well-traveled. We also walked by two rangers during our one and a half hour descent.
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