GaliWalker
Trail Wise!
Have camera, will use.
Posts: 3,699
|
Post by GaliWalker on May 25, 2021 4:36:23 GMT -8
Over the weekend we drove down to Charlottesville, Virginia, as proud parents of our daughter who was graduating from the University of Virginia. After attending the ceremony, we all drove 1.25hrs north to Shenandoah Valley's Luray Caverns. I'd driven past the caverns countless times before over the past four years, but had never visited thinking they'd be no more than a tourist trap. Plus, I'm more of hiking atop a mountain type than a hiking inside a mountain person. Anyway, lemme tell you that Luray Caverns are stunning! Yes, they're touristy, and not the largest I've been inside, but they are spectacular and extremely photogenic. The stalactites, especially the delicate drapery types, are particularly amazing. There's even a small 18in deep lake inside, Dream Lake, which has mind-bending reflections. A 1.25mi figure-8 loop takes one through Luray Caverns. Dream Lake reflections...reallyReflected ceiling on Dream LakeDream LakeMawStalagmite cairnDraperyBefore driving back home the next day I made a quick sunrise trip to Blackrock Summit, in Shenandoah National Park. A couple of years ago, I'd come upon this rocky area during a hike. It had been the middle of the day and the lighting wasn't the most flattering, so I'd made a mental note to return at a better time. Unfortunately, this time around a stiff wind was whipping the foliage around, which really hampered the type of photography I could do. It was still a pretty amazing dawn. Pre-dawnGaliWalker at Blackrock
|
|
|
Post by autumnmist on May 25, 2021 15:36:29 GMT -8
Wow! The caverns are stunningly beautiful, magnificent, haunting and otherworldly, and probably more adjectives of which I can't remember right know. They literally "take my breath away."
|
|
GaliWalker
Trail Wise!
Have camera, will use.
Posts: 3,699
|
Post by GaliWalker on May 26, 2021 4:59:12 GMT -8
Thanks, autumnmist ! Yes, they're touristy, and not the largest I've been inside A slight amendment to the above statement... The little booklet they handed us with our tickets said these are "the largest caverns in eastern America". I pretty much discounted that as market speak, but I'm beginning to rethink that. These were the best lit caverns I been inside, which might have made the other ones seem comparatively bigger, by hinting at more than was actually there (e.g. Laurel Caverns in southwestern Pennsylvania, which are billed as the largest in Pennsylvania, and had felt larger than Luray Caverns). Anyway, bigger or not, the stalactite/stalagmite formations were the best I've seen. Also, when I said "touristy", maybe I should have said "more commercialized".
|
|
echo
Trail Wise!
Posts: 3,330
|
Post by echo on May 26, 2021 19:02:51 GMT -8
I’ve been to Laurel Caverns and if I remember correctly they are a lot darker than your pictures show Luray to be for sure. These are lovely. I have always loved caves, touristy ones and spelunking in ones that have been mapped. I’ve only once been brave enough to go off and map a section that hadn’t been explored before and even then it was with a experienced teammate. Oh, before I forget, congratulations on the daughter’s graduation. My niece was doing nursing classes there in Charlottesville and my brother (the one with Down’s syndrome) would go along and wait for her in the library, reading and copying down passages of books he likes in a notebook. He loves going to college and “doing his homework” with her.
|
|
GaliWalker
Trail Wise!
Have camera, will use.
Posts: 3,699
|
Post by GaliWalker on May 26, 2021 19:52:25 GMT -8
Charlottesville is a beautiful town, and in such a pretty location too, sitting in the lap of Shenandoah National Park. My daughter loved her time there.
|
|