Gone subterranean

Shasta Caverns

It's really the first time I've been in a cave. I've been wanting to go to one for sometime now but have not found the time to go to one. I was excited from the ticket booth to the ferry boat ride across the river until I got to the entrance of the cave and saw how the walls felt like it was ready to engulf me.

Talk about having a bad case of claustrophobia!

After the grueling climb up the steep stairs, and after we were warned that we had 600 more steps to navigate during the tour (yay!—what have I gotten into?) we arrived inside the first of several rooms and suddenly all of my anxieties were replaced with awe by the sight before me. My camera had to work extra hard to get decent pictures with the limited lighting in the caverns—thank goodness for digital technology! My impression of cavern tours meant going down below ground but this one we actually went up inside a mountain. We can also tell the guide has spent so much of her time showing visitors around as she's telling corny stories and pulling character look alikes from the shapes of the cavern walls the entire time.

....still more things to come....

Copyright 2004 Wandertrekker