Amazing phenomena and folklore below ground level By: _Robin Tierney_ (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/bios/44308977.html) February 14, 2010
Imagine inheriting a cave -- one you had never visited? Seven months ago, Richmond architect Scott Kyle learned that his late uncle bequeathed him Cascade Caverns in Boerne, Texas. Opened in 1932 after teenagers found a hole in a cow pasture, the crowd-pleasing curiosity had sunk into decrepitude in recent decades. Once Kyle visited, he took leave to revive the attraction. Work's still in progress, but visitors have plenty of wondrous sights to see, starting aboveground with the abandoned ticket hut made of rock, meadows of native plants and flowers and the original winding stone path flanked by perforated limestone. "That's fossilized sea life," explained Kyle. "We're right up face to face with geological features from the Pleistocene epoch formed over 110 million years -- and still changing with time and floods and tremors." Descending 100 stone steps to the reclaimed entrance, you enter a dark underground creek-side passage. Draped with ever-forming formations, this "live cave" is an agreeable 68 degrees year-round. Water hollowed the caverns; now dewdrops fall. "Getting dripped on is good luck," said Kyle. New light-emitting diodes shine just enough to highlight filigreed walls and movie-set-perfect phenomena. Lights off, visitors would experience fear-inducing total darkness. Threading the fault line, Kyle presented a crash course in cave formations. Stalactites extend downward; stalagmites rise; sometimes they meet to form columns. Travertine dams collect minerals spilling down walls. Hollow, delicate "soda straws" form mini rain forests. A slender waterfall splashes down 100 feet. Fossils range from mussels to mastodons. Mineral formations evoke imaginary figures. Don't touch; Kyle warned, "when skin oils clog pores, rocks die." Native Indians took refuge here, cooking with the natural chimney. So did a German immigrant, in the 1840s, after trying to kill his wife's lover. The cave's original entrepreneur pulled a truck up to a catwalk and lowered tourists down in a big bucket. The dainty Pipistrellus bats in crevices? Kyle described their gentle ways. Why do the tiny white salamanders lack pigment and eyes? Cave dwellers don't need them. "This side trip became the most delightful thing we did in the San Antonio area," said Fred Beverage. The Pinetop, Ariz., teacher's family marveled at pond animals and, after ducking through tight passages, the Cathedral Room. Church services filled this 60-foot-deep chamber during World War II -- complete with an organ. Of the eerie beauty triggering communal goose bumps, Kyle said, "A cave definitely has that Americana 1950s mystique." The architect's work continues -- as does nature's. Reach Robin Tierney at [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) ._http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/Amazing-phenomena-and-folklore-below-ground-level-84147782.html_ (http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/Amazing-phenomena-and-folklore-below-ground-level-84147782.h tml)
