Chris and I went to Sequoia National Park this weekend to give Crystal Cave another try. The last time we went we discovered, after we had made the hike down to it, that the generator was broken and we could not go in because there were no lights. We hoped that this time the generator would be working, and thank goodness it was.
We had to go on the 4:00 pm tour because all the others were sold out already. The cave closes for the winter at then end of October, so the opportunities to see the cave were diminishing quickly. You cannot buy your tickets at the cave bookstore. You have to purchase them at one of the visitor centers (there is one a mile from the park entrance and there is also a visitor center at Lodgepole). The trek to the cave is a half mile downhill, and you are supposed to allow at least 15 minutes to make the walk to the cave. It is a pretty steep descent, so good walking shoes or hiking boots are a must, unless you want really sore feet!
The hike to the cave is very scenic, with lots of trees and ferns and bay trees. The bay trees give off a wonderful scent, too. There is also poison oak...lots of it, so staying on the trail is essential, not only to avoid getting poison oak, but to also protect the plant and animal life. There are a few small waterfalls and a creek running through the trail as well.
At the cave entrance, you can feel the cold air coming out of the cave as soon as you step foot near it. The cave temperature is about 48 degrees, so bringing a sweater or jacket is strongly recommended. There is a cool looking Spider Web Gate at the entrance, which the tour guide will open when it is time to begin the tour. The gate was constructed in 1939 by the park's blacksmith. I had no idea it was so old when I saw it. There is also a rock at the cave's entrance called the "Touching Rock." It is the only rock that you are allowed to touch in the cave, because the oils in human hands can cause damage to the delicate surfaces of the cave. You can also see some stalactites (the crystals descending from the cave roof) and stalagmites (the crystals forming upwards from the cave floor) right there in the entrance.
Crystal Cave was discovered in 1918 by 2 park construction workers who had come down to the Cascade Creek to fish. On April 30, 1918, Walter Fry, a park worker and caving enthusiast, led the fist exploration into Crystal Cave. The cave has some 3.9 miles of passage ways, but the tour only takes you on about 1/2 mile. It is also only one of over 200 known caves in Sequoia and King's Canyon National Parks. The cave is formed out of marble, which is metamorphosed limestone, and schist, which is a medium-grade metamorphic rock. The caves form when there are cracks in the rock which allow water to pass through. Erosion combined with time creates passage ways and large caverns. A small creek flows through Crystal Cave, and through the water, you can see the blueish marble floor.
There are several rooms in the cave. One is the Organ Room. There is a large formation on the wall which resembles a pipe organ, thus its name. It is a beautiful sight to see, and no picture can really do it justice. The Large Room is so named because it is the largest room in the cave. It is in this room that the tour guide will stop and turn out all of the lights for maybe 30 or so seconds and leave you in complete darkness. Even in only this brief time, you will lose all sense of direction, which is why the tour guide recommends people to sit down for this "black-out." (I stood up though - hehe).
There are some forms of life that live in the cave. One is the Crystal Cave Millipede. This millipede is small and nearly colorless, and is only found in this cave and nowhere else in the world. This species is considered to be a troglobite, which is a creature that is solely cave-dwelling and cannot live outside a cave system. Troglobites are generally blind or eyeless and lack pigment, because they don't need it. All of the troglobites in Crystal Cave are small invertebrates. Also in the cave, live bats. There are 9 different species of bats that reside in Crystal Cave. We didn't see any of them, though. They tend to live further back in the cave where we pesky humans don't often visit.
The cave tour was awesome. I would love to do it again, despite the 1/2 mile hike back up the hill, which is very steep. Boy my calf muscles were sure hurting the next day! The cave tour was worth the pain...every bit of it!
We camped out in Lodgepole, which is a popular campsite. It is also very close to the market and snack bar. In fact, we walked to the snack bar in the morning for breakfast. You could see it from the campsite. We saw a few deer in the parking lot on Saturday. They eyed us warily, but kept on eating. I snapped a few pictures before they ran off.
The weather was beautiful, but by the time we got back from the cave tour, it was after 5 pm, and it was starting to get chilly. We got back to the campsite around 6'ish and set up camp, ate a small dinner and went into the tent for the night. In the morning, it was cold! I didn't want to get out of my sleeping bag because it was so cold. But, eventually, the need to pee took over and I had to get up. We went over to the snack bar and got a little breakfast...I had french toast sticks....mmm, and some hot cocoa, and then we went back to camp to take down the tent and get going to see some more sights. As we were sitting at the table putting things away, we heard some "thumps." As we looked, we saw pine cones falling out of the tree. Seems that a squirrel was up on the tree top busily gnawing away at pine cones so he could gather them up below and store them up for winter. It sure was funny to see. But some of them came awfully close to the tent. Luckily, we weren't over there or we might have gotten knocked in the head. That would have been interesting to try to explain to someone.
After we got everything put away, we took off for Crescent Meadow. There is a nice trail along the meadow which takes you by some of the Giant Sequoia trees. The meadow itself was pretty brown because it is fall and the plants are changing colors. The aspen trees leaves were golden, which was a nice contrast to the evergreen of the fir and sequoia trees. There were lots of ferns along the trail, most of which, too, were changing color. We took the trail to the Chimney Tree, which is a dead, hollowed out tree which you can go into. It was pretty neat. Along the trail, there was another unmarked tree which was hollowed out from a fire that you could climb into if you are adventurous.
After we got back, we decided to go to Moro Rock. You can see Moro Rock from the visitor center near the park's entrance. At its peak, this giant granite monolith is 6725 feet high, and when you look over the side, you can see just how high up you are. It is a long way to the bottom from the top!!! For the most part, there are railings to hold onto, but in some areas, there is only a knee-high rock wall and nothing to really hang onto. For those people who are afraid of heights, making it to the top is a great accomplishment (hehe).
The hike to the top is about 1/4 mile and is all uphill. You have to climb some 400 steps to get to the top, and gain some 300 feet in elevation. But once you get to the top, the view is breathtaking! You get a panoramic view of the park and of the Great Western Divide, a mountain range straight across from the rock. It is an awesome sight to see.
After seeing Moro Rock, we went to the Giant Forest Museum. It is a nice little museum, and is free to get in. They have a little gift shop and I got a few postcards there. Also, in front of the museum, there is the Sentinel Tree. This tree is about 257 feet tall and weighs about 700 tons. Even at such a height and weight, it is considered to be only an average-sized Giant Sequoia. In comparison, the General Sherman tree, the largest living thing in the world, is 274.9 feet tall, and its circumference, at the ground, is 102.6 feet, and has a volume of 1486.6 meters. To me, all of the Giant Sequoia trees in the forest looked huge. And they are!
It started clouding up and it got a little chilly after we got out of the museum. There weren't too many mosquitos this time. I came away with only 2 or 3 bites. I had such a good time on this trip. The cave tour was the highlight of the trip, for me. It is an experience I will never forget.
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