Hike to the Caves

June 3--We made the long journey to American Fork Canyon on this beautiful Thursday morning, so anxious to hike that we forgot two very important things. Jackets and a camera. The camera was for my sanity's sake, and for the sake of memories. The jacket was too keep us some semblance of warm while we were in the 45 degree caves. In place of our nice digital camera we bought a disposable one, so that we had at least something. Thus, I apologize for the terrible quality of pictures.

One thing about disposable cameras though, It was fascinating to see the huge change in cameras over just a few years. I'd forgotten about winding, and holding down the flash button, and guessing what the picture will look like... it was actually a lot of fun. The only bad part was that we had to be conservative because there were only 27 pictures, and that was very difficult for Taylor.

So, on to the hike. It's a fairly easy, fairly simple hike, but it is straight up the mountain, with about a million switchbacks. I am not in shape at all, but it was easier than I thought it would be. It was just up and up and up and up with no breaks. Needless to say we were breathing heavily pretty quickly, and having lots of fun feigning exhaustion for the camera.

We had fun taking pictures, until we realized that we needed to go faster up the mountain or we wouldn't make it in time for our scheduled tour. So we picked up the pace and headed up.

They had all kinds of signs on the hike up. There were little signs for an audio tour you could listen to if you called a number then they would tell you about a specific thing on the trail. They had signs telling you how far along the trail you were, 1/4 way, 1/2, 3/4. And there were signs all over that said "Watch out for falling rocks" and "Warning steep cliffs." Those are the two biggest dangers on this trip, rocks and cliffs. They just recently had one maintenance worker die, and one girl injured severely on this hike. It's kind of scary in parts, and you could most definitely die from a fall.

We got a kick out of this and decided that we really need to convince Dad to come with us just so he can take a picture with this sign. :)

They do all kinds of things to try to protect you, but they can only do so much. There were red lines on the trail where you weren't supposed to stop hiking because there was rock fall danger, and the signs all warned of steep cliffs. Mostly as long as you pay attention and be careful you are completely safe. But if you aren't watching you can easily walk off the side, which is what that girl did. There were parts that I wouldn't walk next to someone and preferred single file lines, but it was always pretty safe.

And look! Mom found a cave all by herself! Time to go back...

When we finally completed the long, but eventful trip to the top we met with the rangers and sat down to eat our snacks. We just chilled and talked with them while we waited for another group to join us. They told us what their job was like and how much they loved it. There was even a summer internship program for students. The coolest thing they told us was about a different tour that they offer called "Introduction to Caving." They told us that spelunking is the amateur term for "caving." It's a tour that takes you to a different area of the caves and you get to wear cave helmets and do some exploring etc. It lasts like an hour and a half and they only let 5 people go in a day. It sounds like such an adventure! I really really want to do that someday!

Once the next group caught up to us we were able to go on the tour. We walked into the entrance and it was COLD. 45 degrees cold. As I said before, we forgot to bring our jackets so it was a little chilly. It actually wasn't too bad when you got used to it, but the initial shock was pretty cold. Once we started moving more we warmed up as well.

The tour was awesome! It's incredible what things can grow in caves! Everything is formed by watered down calcite that builds up on every surface. It was extremely wet and droplets fell from the ceiling all over. They called it being "kissed by the cave" when a drop landed on you. :)

They explained what happens when a stalactite drips and starts for form a stalagmite, and that over thousands of years they run into each other and form a column. They explained how old the cave was and that this was probably the safest place to be in an earthquake. There were so many fascinating facts! The curly carpet looking things in this picture are called helictites (click on it and you'll see it better.) No one knows for sure how they are made because they defy gravity in the curly way they form. There is also a formation called bacon, because it looks just like bacon. :)

The hike itself was adventurous too! We had to duck underneath lots of low rocks, bend to the side to avoid touching formations, and climb up and down some steep paths. It's paved entirely with concrete, so there wasn't ever any danger of twisting an ankle--though I'm sure I could have managed it. It's pretty much awesome.  I love being adventurous!

The most amazing part of the tour though was a part in which Sue--our guide--turned off all the lights and made everyone turn off their cameras and phones. It was complete darkness like I have never seen before. I was touching my face and couldn't see my hand. There was no light whatsoever down there, and that was apparently how caves grow the best. Which makes sense. She shined a laser pointer across the room at some different things. The rocks were completely opaque and the laser didn't penetrate them, but the calcite formations would glow all the way through. Kind of like when you shine a flashlight through your hand and it glows reddish? That's just like what this was.

She also shined the laser on her ring and it scattered a dozen different red lights across the ceiling, which was an amazing sight. It was so humbling to be apart of this kind of nature. Rocks, of all things, really do hold an astounding amount of beauty.

All in all the cave was an amazing and thoroughly satisfying experience. The trek up was definitely worth the spectacular sights, and I highly recommend it to anyone.

The hike back down was much quicker, and much easier. But we had to take one last picture as "roadkill" laying on the trail, for exhaustion's sake.

I still have yet to decide if this picture was meant to depict us falling off the cliff and dying, or just being too tired to continue the hike...