Day 37: Skyline Caverns

 It was cool and overcast this morning -- perfect weather for spelunking! Just a mile from the northern entrance to Skyline Drive is one of Virginia's many commercial caverns. Skyline Caverns was discovered in 1937 and opened for public tours a couple of years later. There were just six of us in my tour group, and the other five were touring local area caves together and led by a geologist. Our tour guide led us on an hour-long trek through many passageways where we observed graceful flowstone, stalactites, stalagmites, shallow lakes, and anthodites (long, needle-like crystals of aragonite, a variety of calcite).

I decided to stay another night in Front Royal so I could take care of errands today, including shopping for groceries, doing laundry, and getting a haircut and beard trim (at the prodding of my wife, who noticed I was overdue when we were Skyping!). So much to see and do, and so little time!

Fairyland Lake in Skyline Caverns.

The parking lot and entrance to the caverns.

Capitol Dome flowstone formation (or an elephant's foot caught in chewing gum!).

Stalactites (growing from the ceiling downward).

Stalagmite (growing from the floor upward).

Lower part of the American Eagle flowstone formation, the largest in the cavern.

The Shrine stalagmite (illuminated in background).

Fairyland Lake. With water that really is as smooth as glass, it's an absolutely perfect reflection of the ceiling. The distance from the water to the ceiling is only about three feet.

Anthodite (calcite) crystals.

The long, delicate "straws" are about four inches long.