As the party continues one listens to the whispered observations of the members. Looks like the inside of a great Cathedral, says one. Oh, no, answers his companion, too eerie and spooky for that!
The beauty continues to defy all description. The color in the Big Room, too, is appealing to the eye, no doubt enhanced by the deft use of colored lighting. No, says the guide. Only plain light bulbs are used in the thousands of feet of wire strung throughout the Caverns. Any color you see was put there by Mother Nature herself.
© BY ROBERT NYMEYER
Creeping along the north side of the Big Room the party passes by Fairyland, a group of fantastically shaped stalagmites recalling the fairies from childhood tales as they go about their sprightly tasks.
Next to be seen is the Temple of the Sun, named for the many colors found shimmering on its sides and base. It is a huge stalagmite from which hang many stone icicles from a dozen or more layers, the curtains of icicles pink in color mounted upon a stone base of blue.
Thousands of inverted spires rain down from above, and on the ground the crinkly rock formations resemble pop-corn in color and appearance although not hardly in flavor! This same pop-corn formation is seen in other parts of the Caverns and geologists say this condition resulted after stalagmites had grown to a considerable height, following which the cave was flooded for thousands of years with water, the excess lime from which accumulated in the tiny globules which give the bubbly appearance.
Further on is the Totem Pole, a tall, slender stalagmite whose parent stalactite never had time to form due to the rapid rate of the dripping water. Standing pretty much alone, it sticks out like a large suhuaro cactus stalk against a cloudless sky. The outside "skin" is about as rough, but the spines are missing. To others it resembles a group of men's hats thrown carelessly into a pile, one on top of the next. What it lacks in color, it makes up for in its unique appearance.
The floor of the Big Room is a reddish brown color, and at this point the visitor sees numerous rounded mounds of stones, looking much as though a stalagmite might have gotten a good start only to be engulfed in water and be polished down to this semi-globular formation. That is probably just what happened, leaving these half-buried basketballs to remain in exactly that fashion for eternity.
A sudden right turn brings the party to the famous Jumping Off Place, which in reality is one of the entrances to the Lower Cave. The trail passes midway between floor and ceiling, approximately 150 feet in each perpendicular direction. Here the floor of the Lower Cave approximates 900 feet below the surface.