Greetings Steemit,
My girlfriend and I recently visited Marvel Cave, a stunningly beautiful underground adventure located in Branson, Missouri. This cave is a registered national natural landmark, and boasts many legends regarding its discovery and past exploration.
This post will contain a bit of the cave's history via the information found on wikipedia, as well as several pictures and videos I shot while walking through the cave.
History
(This section was copied from Wikipedia )
Osage Indians
"Legend says in the early 16th century, the local Osage Indians were on a bear hunt, chasing two black bears along the White River until one went up a tree for safety. But a well placed arrow took it out. They continued to chase the other bear up Roark Mountain, and the bear fell onto a ledge in the sinkhole. The hunting party didn't want to all jump down to kill the bear and have to drag it back up so, a brave young tribe member climbed down to the ledge with his hunting dog and knife. He stabbed the bear and the bear lunged back. The bear, dog and the boy fell through the sinkhole landing in the Cathedral Room. The Indians then looked down the hole and saw nothing. They heard strange sounds; echoing sounds of their voices, bats flying around, water trickling and they felt warm air, all of which made them think it was an evil place. The Indians thought they had found the entrance to Hades and named the cave the Devil's Den. They marked trees around the Devil's Den with their danger sign (a sideways V), and never returned.
Early explorers
There is evidence that the Spanish explored the cave in 1541, hoping to uncover riches and possibly the fountain of youth. There is a legend that the Spanish buried gold in the cave. The first known expedition was in 1869 and lead Henry T. Blow of St. Louis, a lead mining magnate. He explored the cave with six other miners. One by one, the miners lowered themselves down into the sinkhole. They carried lanterns for light and spent hours studying the cave walls carefully searching for signs of mineral deposits. They went as far as the Shoe Room, because on one side was the Gulf of Doom, which they believed was the bottomless pit after throwing rocks down the Gulf of Doom and hearing no sound. On the other side was the Cloud Room, which was filled to the ceiling with bat guano. The miners returned to the surface late that evening having failed to discover the lead ore they sought, but were convinced that the flat ceiling of the Shoe Room contained marble. Their report gained the interest of area locals who decided to name the cave, Marble Cave.
No more expeditions took place until 1882 when another group of entrepreneurs, led by Mr. T. Hodges Jones and Truman S. Powell of Barton County, entered the cave in hopes of finding lead. Jones and Powell found huge amounts of guano and the flat ceiling, which they also believed to be marble."
Modern Times
The cave is currently operated by the amusement park Silver Dollar City, which offers guided tours through the massive spanning caverns. The park allows about 60 people at a time, led by a park guide, to traverse the cave while presenting a detailed account of its history and features.
This tour starts as you descend over 200ft down a winding stairway, into a chamber known as the Cathedral room. This massive opening is one of the largest cave entrances found in North America. The room is so large, that in 1994, 5 hot air balloons were actually flown simultaneously in the chamber marking an underground altitude world record.
In total we descended 500ft below the Earth's surface, consisting of almost 600 stairs & winding paths that are at times so small that you will practically have to crawl through some openings to proceed. Upon completion you are met with a near vertical cable car ride back to the surface along a half mile long track.
It was stunning to see these million year old rock formations up close, hearing the underground waterfalls flowing, and realizing that some passages have never been fully traversed despite having evidence that humans have been exploring this cave for over 500 years!
I did my best to capture some images and videos of the experience, though the lighting was very poor and we were constantly walking. Hopefully my iPhone camera produced results well enough to give you a small taste of what this breathtaking geographic wonder looked like.
Cave map, on the wall, prior to descending
The entrance, looking like an inconspicuous large crack in the ground
The adventure begins by walking several hundred steps down
After reaching a small landing pad, the tour guide takes a head count, and assigns a person at the end of the line to be responsible for making sure everyone in front of them doesn't venture off the path. I personally thought the guide was being a little over bearing, not knowing what I was about to walk into.
The next video is a little shaky, as we were descending over 200 steps down a narrow and winding staircase. It is at this moment when the warm air from the cave hits you, along with the smell of musty earth, and you realize you're about to enter a spanning underground cavern. There is loud music playing, which at first I thought was a little cheesy, until my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I began to see the room I was entering.
Looking over the rail, you start to get a sense of how deep this chamber is
Looking down, the round rock is known as the "soot pile" consisting of millions of years of dirt & water run off.
At the bottom, looking back up. You can see the staircase we just descended that sits atop the soot pile. My eyes having adjusted to the dark by now, you can clearly see the size of the soot pile that the stair case is built upon, as well as an idea of how far we had just walked down.
Another angle of the soot pile. It was massive in size, and I quickly realized that without that staircase, I wouldn't have been able to climb back up the wet & slippery smooth rock formation. I cannot imagine how people used to explore this cave using ropes & lanterns.
A zoomed in view at the cave entrance from the bottom of the Cathedral room. The temperature difference had created a dense fog that was rising out of the crack. This was an ominous and beautiful sight to see.
One more look at the entrance and soot pile, with the sun shining down. I felt very, very small at this moment.
From this point on, there was no more sunlight, as we were deep within the earth. The rock formations along the path were simply stunning. Due to the low light, it was hard to get good clear pictures, as I was trying not to use my flash and blind my fellow spelunkers.
Some accent lighting was setup, illuminating huge and stunning rock formations along the path. In this shot you can see the guide rail along the path we were walking, and how these formations were all around us as we traveled deeper into the ground. It was stunning.
A close up of some of the limestone stalactites that lined the walls
A zoomed out shot of the same room. You can see the silhouettes of the other people on the tour with us along the bottom right of this picture, taken for size comparison of this stunning chamber.
Continuing along the path, which was pitch black dark minus the accent lighting.
An amazing several stories tall underground rock formation
Walking through a passage, looking at the ceiling above us. My over-analytical mind couldn't help but realize that if there was an earthquake at that moment, I would have been squished like a grape.
The cave was thought to have contained marble in the mid 1800's, and the park has preserved some of the original mining company's artifacts that they left behind. Again I cringe to think how difficult a job that must have been using only ropes & lanterns during that time period.
Continuing down the path. At this point I was beginning to feel as if I was being swallowed by the Earth.
There were several signs along the way, explaining where we were and some of the history of the cave.
An old staircase left behind by the miners who passed through here 150+ years ago.
More unique rock formations along the wall. This looked like the inside of a bee hive to me.
A very peaceful waterfall that has been running underground for thousands of years.
Close up of the sign next to the waterfall, which states that the end of this passageway has yet to be found. This was a good reminder to NOT wander off the trail!
Narrow passageways. The man in front of me in this picture was probably 6 foot 5 inches, and easily 250lbs of solid muscle. I watched him drop to his knees and barely squeeze through many tight spots several times. The most narrow points along the walk are barely 3 foot tall, and this is not the place for anyone who may be the slightest bit claustrophobic.
Another sign leading up to a large underground waterfall.
A shot of how narrow some of the passageways were. I had to fall back from the group to get this shot, which included no person in front of me as they had all walked by. I can't imagine how terrifying it would be to get lost in this cave, especially in a pitch dark environment.
Approaching another waterfall. There is no water being redirected here, this is a natural formation along the path.
Close up of this same waterfall.
More stalactite formations. You could hear water dripping everywhere.
A close up of the same stalactite formation.
Another soot pile. The picture doesn't do it justice, as I had to zoom in to get it. This rock formation was easily 2 stories tall.
My lovely girlfriend posing for a picture.
A sign discussing the calcite formations. I don't remember the exact fact, but I'm fairly certain the guide mentioned it was one of the largest known calcite formations in North America. He was very stern about us not touching it, as the oils/germs on our hands could destroy the formations.
The calcite formations. This example was several stories tall, and I paused to take in its natural beauty.
Looking up at the calcite formations.
A wider shot of the calcite formations. It was at this point that I again felt very, very small.
A large stalagmite formation, on the left of the shot.
And after over an hour underground, we board a cable car and head to the surface. The daylight was somewhat blinding at first, but I was happy to see it.
All in all, this was a remarkable site, and I'm looking forward to returning. The park also offers 'lantern tours', in which all lighting is shut off, and you traverse the same path with only a lantern in hand. I'm excited to try that in an attempt to see & feel what it was like to make this journey as they did in the past before modern lighting.
Its days like this that I'm humbled by the natural beauty of the state I live in, and I hope this post shares a small piece of that with the readers here today.
Cheers Steemit!
~GiftedGaia
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