Oh, so you’re a cave snob.Mammoth Caves is a very large cavern system but it’s too “young” as it has almost no formations in it. About 90-95% of it is just open tan rock.
and what little 10-5% of the system actually has formations, the majority of THAT is ugly tan formations due to human interaction and other chemicals in the water. So the few formations they have most looks tan or flesh in color and looks like a horror show of dicks and vagina flaps from a heavy metal cover.
I very distinctly remember there was only one “room” with anything resembling pure white calcite. Even the much smaller Florida Caverns has a lot of interesting and attractively colored formations
Really in America I’ve only found Carlsbad and Luray to be truly impressive cave systems. And part of that is because I am spoiled having done two completely different hikes through different rooms at the Jenolan cave system in Australia a few hours outside of Sydney. And I also did the smaller but incredibly unique and world famous Waitomo/ Glowworm caves in New Zealand.
Oh, so you’re a cave snob.
Have you been to Kartchner Caverns in southern Arizona? Stopped by there and was really surprised at how good it was. And, there's something about White Sands I can't forget. It's beautiful with the white sands contrasting with the pure blue skies... amazing. Not sure if I liked so much because my youngest was only about 5 years old and we took a sled up and down those dunes for hours. I have so many great pictures and the smile of joy on his face is priceless. In fact, pic in my profile is me sitting on the edge of a dune.Absolutely. Carlsbad and Luray are the best America has and they pale in comparison to Jenolan and Waitomo caves in Oz and Kiwiland respectively. Jenolan is the best cave system by far with room after room of crystal white formations. But Waitomo May be even more impressive because of its wildlife. It has millions of glowworms along the roof and sides which dangle strings of light-emitting bait balls which cause the ceiling of the caves to look like a galaxy of stars. While Carlsbad and Luray both look like the Wish/Timu version of Jenolan, America has nothing like Waitomo
I would love to see that. It’s a part of the country still on my bucket list, along with Acadia in Maine and the Columbia River Gorge in Washington state.
Banana Spider? Big and scary -Everglades was my first one. Swore off National Parksa after that.
Never been to either, but Kartchner has the original tracks the guys made in the mud from the 70s still there. You enter chambers and seal the room/sprayed with mist, then enter another chamber and repeat that before you even go inside. I thought they said it has the biggest moonmilk formation, only turnip and birdnest formations and I believe the longest stalactite formation in the world. They also found sloth and other animals bones dating back like 50,000 years ago or some crazy number. I've been in some other caves and it gets cold... it was a warm and humid inside it.
