Thursday, August 19, 2010

Round Springs Cave

Another impromptu adventure day. WE decided to go to Devil's Well. This was an underground lake in a cavern whose top collapsed. The lake is 'bigger than a football field'. The picture on the map shows a canoe sitting in the water under a dome of light shining through the collapsed roof. It is a water level view. Sounds awesome, let's go. The map also states there is a spiral staircase leading down to the well. Even better.

Spiral staircase...check.

Underground lake...check.

4 foot opening with metal bars over it letting you peek in at the lake from 80 feet above...check.

Canoe...uh no.

Water level view...don't think so.

Awesome underground adventure...don't even think about it.

However, on the way to the Devil's well we passed by Round Springs.

The sign said Cave: Open.

So we stopped and it just so happened there was a Ranger led tour going into the cave in about half an hour. Turns out that it is a lantern tour. As in everybody carries their own lantern because there is no installed lighting. Cool.

Really neat experience. The cave has some improvements to make the path walkable, but not much else. No guardrails, no plexiglass, no lighting fixtures, gift shop, postcards or any of that nonsense. Just a really cool cave with cave wildlife. Small group tours. The effect of watching a trail of lanterns disappear in front of you through these underground canyons is eerie and fun. Sign me up for another Mister Ranger.

It was a cool day.

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