SAN ANTONIO (Day 4 - part 2)

We set out on the Discovery Tour...

During excavation of the entrance trail, artifacts (such as arrowheads and other tools) were found dating back to 5,000 BC, as were a human tooth plus the jawbone and femur from an extinct species of black bear, which were at least 8,000 years old. It is believed that the uppermost areas of the cavern were used by early peoples and animals, before it collapsed.

Not very friendly looking!

Pluto's Anteroom, 108 feet deep

Looking up at the ceiling ... at an old bat roost

Descending deeper ... past a small, deep pool alongside the path

Sherwood Forest & the Fairy Castles

These are called broomstick stalagmites. The tallest column (where a dripping stalagtite meets the stalagmite it's helping to grow) here is 32 feet.

A bridge carried us over the spectacular Purgatory Creek, 211 feet below.

Looking back at the bridge, with formations above and below

Castle of the White Giants is the largest room in the complex. It is 50 feet tall, 60 feet wide and 200 feet long.

Lots of pools

The Watch Tower was the tallest column in the caverns, with a height of 50 feet.

Mount of the Landlord was so named because it looked like a huge apartment complex.

The King's Throne...

... with its chandeliers

The cave complex extends even further, back into this crack

Emerald Lake

Continuing on. ... This 350-foot long chamber has collapsed in layers as it repeatedly filled with water and then drained. Since the formations here grow the size of an ice cube every 100 years, growth on top of the fallen rocks can tell us how long ago the ceiling fell.

Entering the Hall of Mountain King and the Valley of the Fallen Lords. Looking up the path (left) and back down (right)

An ancient bat roost on the ceiling ... and 15,000-year-old bat guano on the floor!

Could this be him?? The Mountain King?

The cavern continued but our tour was over.

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