Our tour guide was very nice and told us that Niagara cave was found when a couple pigs fell into a huge hole. A few men from the surrounding area explored a little ways inside, before letting actual cave experts take over.
The guide said that all of their paths are natural, and that they only smoothed out the floor a bit.
One of the first things we saw was the Niagara waterfall inside. It was really cool looking so far down, and wondering how far down we would go!
We went down a bunch of stairs to a place they called their "chapel" because they do weddings down there...how cool would that be? Our guide told us a bit about some stalactites that were growing under a rock, then we moved on!
There was a long winding valley that we travelled through, and were told not to touch the walls (which were little more than shoulder width apart.) As we walked along, our guide showed us some really cool plant, shell, and algae fossils that had been found in the walls. She also shone a black light on a bit of luminescent rock and it glowed when she turned her light off. It was a really neat experience!
We were told about the stream that fed the waterfall, and how it fed into Hawkeye Spring in Iowa, only a stone's throw away! (If you can throw a rock a couple miles of course.;)
We were almost the only people on the tour, so we could ask as many questions as we wanted. Mom asked one about why we didn't see much evidence of spiders. The lady said there wasn't much food down here for them, or for bats either, so they don't stick around for long.
We went through their "Grand Canyon" (which was nearly 250ft. high at some points!) and wound up on a platform which overlooked a deep tunnel on either side of us.
Our guide told us about how the first explorers would've had uneven and lumpy floors to walk on, unknown depths to climb down, and only lanterns to guide their way. She then turned out all the lights so that we could experience cave darkness. You literally could not see your hand in front of your face, and it made no difference whether your eyes were open or closed.
Our guide turned the lights back on, then said we were to find our way out of the cave, while she came along behind, turning the lights off behind us. I was last in line, and would sometimes look behind me to see the cave go dark. It was pretty cool. What we had forgotten though was the stairs. So many stairs. 155 one way, and 155 back. And we were moving! We were panting up the stairs, and the temperature was so different that Mom's and my glasses were fogging up. After growing used to the 48 degree temp, the 70 degree outdoors felt really hot, so we packed into the van and shed our jackets ASAP!
When we got back to the cabin, we enjoyed a yummy dinner, (compliments of Mom) and played a fun game of 7 Wonders with Dad! I wasn't "officially" playing, I was just advising Dad on what to do since it had been a while since he'd played. Caelan stomped us, but made up for it by baking us cookies. :)
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