Sept 21st

Today was the day to go visit the caverns.  Both of us had been there before – my last visit was in 1967 when I was in the Air Force and stationed in San Angelo, Texas.  I know that the caverns have looked the same for about the last 50,000 years but I wanted to see them again and so did Carol who last saw them on her 10th birthday.  We got a bit of a late start because we met some really nice people in the camp ground and one of the couples was really interested in the GMC.  They spend May through October in their really small class ‘B’ and liked the looks of the GMC.

Our original plan was to get there early enough to do the two self-guided tours that took a total of 3 hours and then take the ranger-guided tour of a couple of smaller chambers.  Our late start caused us to skip the ranger-guided tour and it was just as well because we were tired from the 3 hours of walking.  The self-guided tours started at the natural opening of the caverns – the place that the bats come out – and proceeded down about 750 feet to the “big room”.  It took about 1 1/2 hours to get down there and then another 1 1/2 hours to see the “big room”.  Photos are very difficult to take because of the lack of light and the immense size of the caverns.  They are gigantic – not the biggest in the world but ranked as the most beautiful – and we agree.

Photos are hard to take in the caverns but here is an attempt – don’t forget to click on the box in the lower right of the photo to go to full screen.