cavern

Cathedral Cavern is another place that has been on our AL list. It has a huge opening (25 ft high and 100 ft wide) that was much bigger than the kids expected.

You can walk about 3/4 of a mile into the cave - and it ends up at 310 feet below ground (it's under Gunner mountain). 

The cave was discovered by a guy who ended up buying it and the 160 acres around it for $4k. He named it the Bat Cave and spent 15 years putting walkways in and blasting small tunnels so people could access the more remote areas of the cave that required real spelunking to get to. There are underground rivers, and stalagmites galore. This is one they call the cave man - you can see him with his club raised toward the top.

At one point we rounded a corner and our guide stopped. All of a sudden he flipped a switch and the stalagmite forest was lit up. The pictures don't do it justice. It was spectacular. Unlike anything I have ever seen. The only thing I can compare it to is a memory of the first time I went scuba diving and saw a world I had never seed anything like - a kelp forest, huge red underwater rock formations, colorful fish, rays, eels, seals swimming around me. it was like being inside an aquarium and I will never forget the feeling of awe. I felt something similar when seeing this. It was so beautiful. Like nothing I had ever seen. The cave was probably 20-30 feet high here. It was upon seeing this that the original cave discoverers wife said it reminded her of a cathedral, and they changed the cave's name.

These two pillars of stalagmite are called the pearly gates.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

After we finished up in the cave, we did some gem mining and hung out in big rocking chairs on the porch eating ice cream. Not a bad start to the day!!