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| Mitchell Caverns & Mojave NP November 14-16, 2008 |
| Todd and I drove out to Mitchell Caverns on Friday, it is part of the Providence Mountains State Recreation Area in the southern part of Mojave National Preserve. The caverns are in a spectacular location located partway up the steep northeastern escarpment of the Providence Mountains. The tour is only $5/person and is well-worth the time. It lasts about 1.5 hours and you hike about 1.5 miles total. The caverns are the only limestone caves in the CA State Park system and contain unique formations such as cave shields and helictites. Our cave ranger guide was very funny and entertaining and we really enjoyed the tour. Todd even got to be a part of it, he was in charge of pointing out some mushroom-shaped formations. Thus he was dubbed "Mushroom Boy" lol |
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| Hiking to the cavern |
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| Our ranger tour guide |
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| Todd in front of the Cave Visitor Center |
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| Beautiful views across the desert |
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| The limestone rock in the foreground is what the cave is made of |
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| The cave openings from across the canyon... looks like a giant nose doesn't it? |
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| Me at the cave entrance, waiting to go in |
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| One last look at the outside world... |
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| I don't think we need sunglasses inside the cave! |
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| Oooooo, pretty! |
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| Those stalactites that are going diagonally are helictites |
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| A broken stalactite is growing again... drip, drop, drip, drop |
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| Trippy! |
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| Cave Shields defy gravity by growing outward and upward |
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