When the people sat around on the porch and passed around the pictures of their thoughts for the others to look at and see, it was nice. The fact that the thought pictures were always crayon enlargements of life made it even nicer to listen to. -- Zora Neale Hurston
Geared up, we gather outside the cave.
Members of my group head into a tunnel.
"Oh, don't go in there, Frodo!!"
Some stalagtites.
The only brown bat we saw. It was not happy to have us there.
I think this was in "the Little Hall of Mysteries."
One of the "elephant's feet." For a sense of scale, look for members of my group on the far left.
Did I really cross that ledge?
We spent a lot of time sliding down wet, slick inclines on our butts.
An underground creek runs the most of the length of the cave. It's filled with near transparent crawfish that bite!
We emerge from a passage.
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"Oh, is this where the big spiders come out?"
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A "chandelier."
Probably the best shot I got. Lighting was really tricky.
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One of our group pulling himself up through a hole in a chamber ceiling into the chamber with the 396-ft waterfall.
In the chamber "King's Shower," the waterfall. It was so wet, the "rain" reflected the flash.
Lowering back down into the lower chamber.
The ceiling hole leading to "King's Shower."
A great stalamite formation decorated for the season.
The tumbling rock formation from which the cave takes its name.
We emerged from the cave as the sun was setting and headed into Scottsboro to a Chinese hogtrough.