Rigel (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} rigelkitty) wrote,@ 2008-04-27 18:27:00 |
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Crystal Caverns & Skyline Caverns
Today, we visited a couple tourist caverns, known as "showcaves", in Virginia. I'd advertised our trip to multiple mailing lists comprising of over 700 people, but got absolutely no interested replies, so we went by ourselves.
First stop was Crystal Caverns in Strasburg, VA. We left our place at 9:45am and arrived an hour later, about fifteen minutes before the first of their four daily tours was to begin at 11am. It's located at Hupp's Hill, an old Civil War site which also houses the Stonewall Jackson Museum and historical trails. It was nearly deserted, with just a family of three sharing the visit.
Our $10 tour (minus $2 with our AAA cards) was led by a teenager in jeans and a t-shirt, holding a flashlight, who spoke in quick, monotone mumbles that were hard to understand. On one hand, the rickety and fly-by-night setup of the operation seemed quaint, but it became apparent that Crystal Caverns was more of a dying attraction. Back in its heyday, it housed a hotel, roller rink, and other entertainment, but that was all long gone.
The tour was rather rapid-fire and interesting bits were glossed over without much time to examine anything closely. There was a lot of history to the cave, having been used as a ballroom, speakeasy, battlefield hospital, and station on the underground railroad, but we didn't learn much more than that. It lasted no more than thirty minutes and wasn't much more than a nice, small cave someone fortuitously had in their basement. We left somewhat disappointed.
The next stop was Skyline Caverns, about 20-30 minutes away near Front Royal, VA. I'd read numerous reports online, especially TripAdvisor, that warned the Skyline tour was a facade used for springing religious evangelism on tourists when they were too deep in the tour to back out. My desire to see more caves was stronger than my distaste for proselytizing, so we ventured there anyway.
It turned out that either all the previous reports dating through 2007 were complete frauds, or the attraction had gotten the message and excised all religious content from the site and tours. We paid the initial fee of $16 (minus a $2 coupon online) which seemed a bit exorbitant at first, but the experience ended up being well worth it.
The entire tour was an hour or more and over a mile in length. The cave was filled with lights, wiring, pipes, equipment, and masonry, but for the most part it didn't interfere with any of the formations or sights. While not quite as grandiose as our visit to Natural Bridge last fall, there were some nice big rooms, still pools, and big pillars.
The big, unadvertised surprise was the 2nd half of the tour. Skyline Caverns is filled with incredibly rare anthodites which, currently theorized, only grow in a vacuum (broken when they were originally discovered). Protected by state law with fines of $5000 and 2 years in jail for every single inch of them you break, these crystal formations carpeted the ceiling and walls in gorgeous fragility. They have only been found in three caves in the world and Skyline Caverns is the only one with them on display to the public. Their biggest displays are behind mesh screens because, unbelieveably, some imbecilic former tourists thought it would be fun to throw things at the precious minerals in hopes of breaking them off for fun and profit. In any case, this wonderful experience made the trip totally worthwhile and I'd recommend Skyline to anyone as one of the best showcaves in the area.
Afterwards, we poked around their gift shop which was large but filled with mostly junk tchochkes. The site also houses a miniature train ride and a dragon-themed mirror maze. I'd never been in one of the latter, so we paid the $5 fee to try. While quite entertaining for about five minutes, it was a bit small and would probably be more of a long-term kick to kids (and parents watching them walking face-first into mirror walls, like we did).
For lunch, we ate at the Main Street Mill in Front Royal, which was a bit mediocre, then headed home, getting back at 4pm. Future cave trips I'd like to check out include Crystal Grottoes in Maryland, maybe Smokehole Caverns in West Virginia, and the following Virginia caverns: Shenandoah, Endless, Grand, and Dixie (we've already been to Luray and Natural Bridge). There's also Gap Cave and Natural Tunnel, but they're at the southwestern tip of VA, a good 5-6 hours from us.
Today, we visited a couple tourist caverns, known as "showcaves", in Virginia. I'd advertised our trip to multiple mailing lists comprising of over 700 people, but got absolutely no interested replies, so we went by ourselves.
First stop was Crystal Caverns in Strasburg, VA. We left our place at 9:45am and arrived an hour later, about fifteen minutes before the first of their four daily tours was to begin at 11am. It's located at Hupp's Hill, an old Civil War site which also houses the Stonewall Jackson Museum and historical trails. It was nearly deserted, with just a family of three sharing the visit.
Our $10 tour (minus $2 with our AAA cards) was led by a teenager in jeans and a t-shirt, holding a flashlight, who spoke in quick, monotone mumbles that were hard to understand. On one hand, the rickety and fly-by-night setup of the operation seemed quaint, but it became apparent that Crystal Caverns was more of a dying attraction. Back in its heyday, it housed a hotel, roller rink, and other entertainment, but that was all long gone.
The tour was rather rapid-fire and interesting bits were glossed over without much time to examine anything closely. There was a lot of history to the cave, having been used as a ballroom, speakeasy, battlefield hospital, and station on the underground railroad, but we didn't learn much more than that. It lasted no more than thirty minutes and wasn't much more than a nice, small cave someone fortuitously had in their basement. We left somewhat disappointed.
The next stop was Skyline Caverns, about 20-30 minutes away near Front Royal, VA. I'd read numerous reports online, especially TripAdvisor, that warned the Skyline tour was a facade used for springing religious evangelism on tourists when they were too deep in the tour to back out. My desire to see more caves was stronger than my distaste for proselytizing, so we ventured there anyway.
It turned out that either all the previous reports dating through 2007 were complete frauds, or the attraction had gotten the message and excised all religious content from the site and tours. We paid the initial fee of $16 (minus a $2 coupon online) which seemed a bit exorbitant at first, but the experience ended up being well worth it.
The entire tour was an hour or more and over a mile in length. The cave was filled with lights, wiring, pipes, equipment, and masonry, but for the most part it didn't interfere with any of the formations or sights. While not quite as grandiose as our visit to Natural Bridge last fall, there were some nice big rooms, still pools, and big pillars.
The big, unadvertised surprise was the 2nd half of the tour. Skyline Caverns is filled with incredibly rare anthodites which, currently theorized, only grow in a vacuum (broken when they were originally discovered). Protected by state law with fines of $5000 and 2 years in jail for every single inch of them you break, these crystal formations carpeted the ceiling and walls in gorgeous fragility. They have only been found in three caves in the world and Skyline Caverns is the only one with them on display to the public. Their biggest displays are behind mesh screens because, unbelieveably, some imbecilic former tourists thought it would be fun to throw things at the precious minerals in hopes of breaking them off for fun and profit. In any case, this wonderful experience made the trip totally worthwhile and I'd recommend Skyline to anyone as one of the best showcaves in the area.
Afterwards, we poked around their gift shop which was large but filled with mostly junk tchochkes. The site also houses a miniature train ride and a dragon-themed mirror maze. I'd never been in one of the latter, so we paid the $5 fee to try. While quite entertaining for about five minutes, it was a bit small and would probably be more of a long-term kick to kids (and parents watching them walking face-first into mirror walls, like we did).
For lunch, we ate at the Main Street Mill in Front Royal, which was a bit mediocre, then headed home, getting back at 4pm. Future cave trips I'd like to check out include Crystal Grottoes in Maryland, maybe Smokehole Caverns in West Virginia, and the following Virginia caverns: Shenandoah, Endless, Grand, and Dixie (we've already been to Luray and Natural Bridge). There's also Gap Cave and Natural Tunnel, but they're at the southwestern tip of VA, a good 5-6 hours from us.
