Last week we spent a cool afternoon exploring Luray Caverns, which is a large cave system discovered in 1878 in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. I tried to capture several different examples of the geologic formations and although I think I got a good sampling, the following photos do not do justice to what it's like to actually walk through this National Landmark...
It was a great day for the hour and a half drive up into the mountains.
Luckily the 6000 school kids on a field trip that day were just leaving so we had a fairly quiet tour.
Stalactites grow down from the ceiling while stalagmites rise up from the floor. When the two meet, they form a column. These grow at the rate of about an inch for each 100 years.
Stalactites reflected in one of the many underground pools.
This type of formation is called draperies.
Stalactites.
Overview of one of the many large chambers.
As the cavern system is still active and growing there is still a lot of water.
This stalactite fell thousands of years ago and is now molded into the surrounding formations.
This organ is connected to a system of mallets that ring against different stalactites and stalagmites throughout this chamber.
Large column.
There is always something different to see.
Seemed like a good photo to end on.
I've never been to Luray Caverns, but my kids have. I've been to one similar (Cave of the Winds) in Colorado when I was about 12 years old. I remember being in awe of the amounts of time it takes these things to form, some of them being enormous.
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