Craven Birds

Posted by dkrashb on April 15, 2013

A singing Eastern Towhee may not be the most unusual sight in Tennessee, but this was the best picture I got of the day

Today was a big birding day. I got out birding with some really expert birders. We met at Cravens House on Lookout Mountain. When we arrived, I was surprised to discover that the gate to the main parking lot was still locked. I’ve never been to Cravens House when the gate was locked, but then I don’t think I’ve ever been there at 9AM on a Sunday morning, either.

Not the usual sighting on a bird walk, but seeing the include railway train pass over the trail was kind of fun

Pat and Tisen drove up with me in case no birders showed. Normally, we don’t take dogs birding. It’s just not the best mix. Even though Tisen is not a big bird chaser, a lot of birds key off the shape of a canine and go into hiding. I know this is particularly true of water fowl like geese. I haven’t really witnessed this with song birds, but since I’ve never known anyone to bring a dog on a bird walk, I don’t know that I would have noticed. The birds at Renaissance Park are so used to seeing dogs, I don’t think they’re a good test case.

Our plan was to go for a hike if no one showed and for Pat and Tisen to hike a different direction if others did show. As it turned out, Pat and Tisen took their own hike.

A large variety of Trillium whose name I don’t recall

One birder joined us who moved to Chattanooga fairly recently. He and his wife and children moved here from Seattle. He was so excited to get to go birding. He mentioned that since moving to Chattanooga he’d been a stay-at-home-dad. I think that explained his enthusiasm for getting out and doing something with adults. He was fun to bird with–he had lots of great birding stories from parts of the world like Australia.

We walked for 3 hours and saw about 34 bird species. We might have seen more had we started out on a different trail, but I didn’t know the trail we ended up on was even up there until Clyde mentioned it. Clyde is one of Chattanooga’s best birders. I love it when he comes to bird walks–I’ve never birded with anyone who can bird like him. He seems to hear or see a bird with every breath. It’s really amazing.

One of the more exciting sightings of the day–the Hooded Warbler

In any case, the Carolina Wrens and Northern Cardinals were singing so loudly that we joked we wished we had a volume control for them. Carolina Wrens are one of those birds I never tire of. Although they are so common it’s not particularly exciting to see them, their fussy little personalities and extraordinarily loud voices continue to amuse me. On the occasions when I get to see them sing, I am always impressed by the effort. Their entire body seems to throw itself into the production of sound. It’s no wonder they produce a sound that seems at least a magnitude larger than their tiny bodies.

Another favorite that turned up–an American Redstart

But today, no wrens were willing to pose for me. The best I managed to capture was a singing Towhee.

Bird (and other Stuff) Walk

Posted by dkrashb on April 14, 2013

This dragonfly (or is it a damselfly?) appeared to be depositing eggs, but we weren’t sure

April is primetime for birding. The number of bird species here increases dramatically during spring migration. For example, while only a handful of Wood Warblers nest and breed in the Tennessee area, dozens fly through Tennessee (including the Tennessee Warbler) during migration.

False garlic bloomed in the grass

Spring migration is also easier on those of us with bad eyes. This is for three primary reasons:

They sing more, making it easier to figure out where they are and, with a bit of practice, to identify which bird it is from its song,
In early spring, there are few leaves for the birds to hide behind, and
The birds are in full breeding plumage, making them (especially the males) much easier to spot and recognize.

Oh how I wanted to trim the branches between me and this Brown Thrasher

Therefore, it only makes sense that we would decide to have a Birdathon in the month of April. This is a stolen idea from a friend up North who started raising money for the local Audubon chapter up there. This friend introduced me to birding when she invited her sponsors to go on a bird walk each year as a thank you for contributing. I guess it stuck–I think the first time I went on a bird walk with her must have been over 15 years ago now.

Trillium was just starting to bloom along the trail

In any case, as part of the Birdathon, we are trying to raise money for the Audubon by taking pledges for the number of bird species we identify over a 3 week period. I am not doing so well. I don’t think I’ve even gotten up to 50 yet.

Much easier to shoot, this turtle basked in the sun

One of the rules is that if a bird is not commonly found in the area, you have to either have a second person who agrees with the ID or a photo of the bird. This has led to me carrying my DSLR with the 100-400mm lens on it every time I go walking through the park or on an official bird walk.

Evidence that someone got only half a meal–we discovered the back half of a 5-striped skink

I so want to get some great photos of song birds. But every time I carry the camera, I end up with tiny shots of song birds up in tree tops. I need a tree house with a blind to sit behind so I can get up closer to the birds. Since I don’t think Park and Recreation will approve of me building a birdhouse, I guess I will have to stick to cropping the heck out of my images.

A muskrat surprised us while we looked for birds–I like how it is actually just under the surface of the water

The photos in this post are from 2 bird walks, 2 locations. One at the park near me and one at Audubon Acres. I am slightly proud of the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher’s photo–that sucker is a 4 ½” bird and I was not that close–the fact that it’s as sharp as it is even though I cropped it a lot is what I’m proud of.

A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher busy hunting among the tree tops

What strikes me as funny is that I only came back from 3 hours of looking at birds with images of 2 birds–I hope bird photographers are well paid.

These turtles looked like they were in the middle of some sort of dating ritual

Zoom Zoom (x4)

Posted by dkrashb on April 13, 2013

I think his face looks distorted (shot with the 8x attachment on), but my husband thinks Tisen looks normal

I intended to take one of my new iPhone toys to the common-area balcony so I could test it on some distant scenery. However, I failed to notice how late I was working until it was well after dark.

Instead, I set up my iPhone with the 8x optical zoom lens in the office, positioned a bright lamp over some of Tisen’s toys, and decided to see what happened.

Since the lens was compared it to a Sigma 500mm lens, I thought I would pull out my DSLR and my 100-400mm lens for a comparison point. As it turned out, there really isn’t a comparison.

The un-enhanced iPhone lens captured this much of the scene:

4mm? Really? Wow.

By comparison, with the 8x zoom lens on, it captured this much:

As tight as the iPhone could get with the 8x telephoto attachment

Focus was a big problem–the way the tripod is designed, the clamp that holds the iPhone blocks a portion of the screen, making it difficult to touch the exact area you want to be in focus. In the wide angle shot, this resulted in focusing on the lens on my Canon, which was sitting on a full-size tripod right next to my iPhone on its mini-tripod. At least, that’s what I think it is–it seems to be the wrong color.

When I look at the difference between the two images, it does appear that Tisen’s cow is about 8x closer, although I’m not exactly clear on the mathematical formula one uses to calculate that.

Since I’d gone to all the trouble of setting up my 5D Mark III with the Canon f/4.0-5.6 100-400mm lens, I thought I should go ahead with the comparison, fair or not. Here is the Canon at 100mm:

At 100mm, the Canon is still far tighter than the iPhone

As you can see, this is not at all comparable to the iPhone without the zoom lens. I was surprised to realize for the first time that the iPhone lens is a 4mm lens! Now that is wide!

At 400mm, Tisen’s cow shows just how badly she needs a bath:

I was quickly bored with shooting Tisen’s toys. I decided Tisen was a more exciting subject. I rotated the lamp around in attempt to shed some light under the desk where he was hiding while all this was going on.

I tried to back up with the Canon to do more of a comparison where Tisen looked the same size in both the iPhone and the Canon images. I had to back up far enough to be outside the lens’ minimum focusing distance, then I zoomed in a bit at 220mm to get something close to the size of the iPhone image.

My Tisen holds still for a portrait shot (DSLR)

I don’t know if you can see the quality difference in these low resolution images, but it’s quite obvious to me when I make this comparison what is superior about the DSLR. On the flip side, if you’re posting low-resolution images to Facebook, the iPhone images are probably all the quality you need.

Tisen holds still, but the iPhone doesn't quite do him justice (iPhone with attachment)

Tisen holds still, but the iPhone doesn’t quite do him justice (iPhone with 8x attachment)

Breaking a Lens

Posted by dkrashb on April 12, 2013

Twiggy decided on a dip in the river before the storm started

This evening, I slipped out with Tisen in a hurry to get him out and back in before it started to rain. A storm was promising to break lose at any moment–the smell of rain hanging in the air as if the deluge was over instead of yet to begin. Whether it was the tickle of electricity forming far away in the clouds or the accumulating energy evidenced by the swirling winds, Tisen and I both had extra spring in our steps.

We didn’t make it very far before we ran into some neighbors–everyone was out with their dogs. Tisen made a couple of new friends and caught up with several old ones. Then, Twiggy and her daddy arrived on the scene. Tisen was beside himself.

I let Tisen follow Twiggy, his favorite trail leader. We meandered along and followed the dogs. Distracted by Twiggy’s feminine wiles, Tisen was suddenly oblivious to the impending storm.

Tisen looking worried after the first clap of thunder

When a loud clap of thunder sounded, he became momentarily airborne and immediately started looking for shelter. I had trouble keeping him out from under Twiggy’s daddy’s feet as underneath our friend seemed to be the best shelter Tisen could find.

We made our way back, but not in time to avoid a good soaking. I was prepared with my rain jacket, but it rained so hard, my pants were dripping and my sandals were soaked by the time we made it back to the building. Tisen was soaked through.

But I was smiling–it was our first summer storm.

The image that caused me to play with the positioning of my lens

When Pat came home, we sat on the balcony for a bit, watching the clouds and the rain, listening to the sound of gallons of water falling from the sky in a giant curtain of water hitting the pavement below. I had the sudden urge to take a fisheye photo of the sky and the rain and the distant ridge.

The fisheye lens for the iPhone attaches purely by magnetism. I made the mistake of fumbling while trying to get the lens centered around the phone lens. The lens popped loose and we watched in slow motion, our mouths opening, sound forming, and a long, “Ohhhhhh . . .” coming out of mine as the tiny lens tumbled to the floor of the balcony, landing at my feet, and rolled. It rolled for what seemed like 10 minutes while I stood frozen in place, still forming the word “Ohhh” and watched it roll right off the edge of the balcony and fall, and fall some more.

The bent rim of the lens after its fall

Still in slow motion, I leaned over the balcony and watched for another 10 minutes as the lens fell 7 stories to the patio below, and suddenly, the one piece became at least 2. I sighed and reminded myself it was a $20 lens, not a $2000 lens, but really, I haven’t gotten $20 worth of fun out of it yet.

I was able to retrieve the pieces and it may even be repairable–we’ll see.

The pieces of my broken lens

Summer Morning

Posted by dkrashb on April 11, 2013

Hipstatmatic version of the Chickamauga Dam shortly after sunrise

Someone flipped the weather switch from winter to summer. After a quick afternoon walk in the park with Tisen yesterday when I discovered it was suddenly August, I decided it was high time I get my bike out of storage and take it for a spin.

Camera! version of the Chickamauga Dam

It seemed like a fantastic idea last night. I got it all ready to go, putting air in the tires, checking the brakes, digging up my biking shoes and helmet. I even found appropriate attire and laid it out so I wouldn’t have to hunt around for what to wear.

When the alarm jerked me awake mid-dream at 5:15AM, it seemed like less of a good idea.

But, once jerked awake, it’s hard to go back to sleep. I stumbled into the kitchen and made some coffee.

Train trestle over the Tennessee River

I eventually made it out the door, still ahead of sunrise. When I told Tisen goodbye, he momentarily raised his head a fraction of an inch and blinked. Then he fell back into a state of involving loud snoring. I was jealous.

Hipstamatic makes high tension wires look charming

Once on my bike, I realized I had never headed to the Riverwalk from our new location before. I wasn’t exactly sure how to make it to the Walnut Street Bridge without having to navigate any stairs. I didn’t quite make it there stepless–I had to carry my bike up one flight of steps–but I did make it without riding on any streets, which was a nice way to start out the morning.

Structures I normally try to keep out of the frame

I took my time riding in the dark, breathing in the smells of spring, and watching the light gradually increase in the sky ahead of me. I saw Osprey and Great Blue Herons. Ring-billed Gulls and Tree Swallows. Dozens of Warblers teased me by flying ahead of me and remaining just visible enough to be recognized as Warblers, but not long enough for their particular species to be identified (even when I got off my bike and pulled my binoculars out of my saddle bags).

The iPhone might not be good for getting photos of birds, but it does pretty well capturing high-tension wires

When I made it to the last mile before the dam, as I entered the sculpture garden, I saw the strange exhibit I call “Abduction” glowing in the dim morning light as a cloud of mist rose off the grass and the sky turned pink in the distance. I thought it was an excellent time to make use of my iPhone camera.

Abduction Sculpture at sunrise with last bit of mist in the background

When I made it to the end of the Riverwalk at the Chickamauga Dam, I coasted down to the fishing pier. I decided it was another photo op, although maybe not the kind I usually think of. The large manmade structures used to generate the electricity that powers Chattanooga (and probably a lot of other places) may not be my normal idea of a subject I want to immortalize, but this morning I just felt grateful for the electricity instead of annoyed by the environmental impacts of the dam. And for once, I found myself smiling with appreciation.

Much later in the day, Tisen enjoyed sitting in the evening sun with Cow

More Bloopers

Posted by dkrashb on April 10, 2013

I actually kind of like this one

Who doesn’t love bloopers? I felt like it was time to pull out some of my favorite bloopers again (aka, I didn’t have any new photos for today’s post). As always, there are recurring themes amongst my bloopers.

Let’s start with the “Oops! Did I press the shutter button?” theme. This occurs in two distinct ways, dependent on whether I’m shooting with my iPhone or my DSLR. With my iPhone, different screen-tapping behaviors often get me.

For example, when you double-tap the “viewfinder” in Hipstamatic, it becomes full screen, making it easier to see what you’re shooting. In the Camera! app, if you touch the screen with one finger, it sets the focus and if you touch the screen with a second finger, it sets the exposure. To confound it all, most apps also take a picture when you single-tap the screen.

Nice keyboard

This was the article (on the left side) that got me started with the Hipstamatic app

You can probably guess what happens. Curiously, I seem to be mostly likely to mis-tap when I have my laptop in my lap. I don’t know why I would be tapping my iPhone screen while I’m working at my laptop, but I have a surprising number of random shots of my laptop. My second favorite mis-fire subject seems to be the ground.

I might be able to get away with pretending I took this one on purpose

Carpet

More carpet

By comparison, I have happy shutter finger issues when carrying my DSLR. This results in strange shots of the ground (usually out of focus) or other random objects in the frame when I accidentally depress the shutter button. Of course, these are more fun than when the lens cap is still on.

The next common blooper theme, which I will spare you a deluge of photos of, but I have plenty, is the “Oops, there’s a stranger in my frame!” theme. When we’re at a popular place for tourists, it’s a little hard to manipulate every scene to eliminate all people. But, I get a little frustrated sometimes when I actually forget I’m in a public place and I take so much time getting ready to take my shot that I fail to notice people walking into my shot until the shutter has gone off.

Where did the cyclists come from?

The next theme we’ll call “Oh shoot! The lighting was terrible!” While lighting is often terrible, a lot of time exposing for the thing you most want to be visible will solve at least the major issue of ending up with a too-dark subject that looks like a silhouette. Then there’s the approach of lighting a too-dark subject by using a handy-dandy tool like a flash light. Sometimes this works OK, but probably not when the subject is too far away for the focal length you have to shoot with and the flashlight is donned by a young tour guide who has little photography experience.

I know Pat is in this photo somewhere

With a macro lens and some better lighting, this would have been a cool shot

Finally, we have the “Darn it, hold still!” theme where uncooperative subjects decide to leave at inopportune moments, hide behind less interesting subjects, or move faster than expected and the camera’s autofocus can’t keep up.

Momma goat is not quite as long as her tiny rear legs suggest

Tisen doesn’t really like it when I try to play with his toys

Cody out flew my autofocus

Fishing Along the Riverfront

Posted by dkrashb on April 9, 2013

Tisen looks so happy rolling in the grass

If I am guilty of getting carried away with my new fisheye lens for my iPhone camera, please forgive me. It’s pretty darn fun. And combining fisheye with Hipstamatic is particularly fun–the square format works well with the round shape of the image created by the fisheye attachment. However, I do like the increased bulging effect of the fisheye lens in the rectangular format.

Tisen rolling Hipstamatic Tintype Style

The biggest problem with the rectangular format is that the lens must be perfectly centered over the built-in lens or I get uneven roundness and even wide black edges in some cases when the fisheye attachment gets bumped off center (which seems to happen frequently).

This problem is compounded by the inability to see the screen to tell that the lens attachment isn’t centered. This results in images like this one:

Oops–the fisheye adapter got bumped

By comparison, the Hipstamatic version (which is really the equivalent of a cropped image) is zoomed in far enough that the curved edges do not show. Even when the lens is well off-center like the one above:

Same shot with Hipstamatic

Of course, cropping the first image would eliminate the issue. For some reason, I just really like the bubble effect. I guess if I’m going to go fisheye, I want it to be obvious.

I really like the fisheye effect for putting Tisen into an image that includes local landmarks across the horizon. While I had fun with this in the images posted yesterday, I especially like the images of Tisen rolling in the grass in the foreground with the Market Street Bridge (and glimpses of Walnut Street Bridge) in the background.

Tisen on the steps is also cute, but then, I have a hard time not loving any picture of Tisen.

Looking through the railing

For those of you who are Tisen fans, you may notice that he is not carrying any of his beloved toys in these images. However, if you happen to look back at yesterday’s post very carefully, you might notice that Tisen has his armadillo/opossum toy with him in those images. Those images were shot on the same walk as today’s.

Tisen on the steps old style

This is a sign of SPRING! Finally!

As the weather gets warmer, Tisen’s interest in walking around with a furry toy stuck to his tongue decreases. He still insists on grabbing a toy before we go out the door, but by the time we get less than halfway through the walk, he’s ready for me to take over carrying it.

I, however, do not employ the same method of carrying his toy that he does. I feel foolish enough walking around the park with a stuffed animal. I’m fairly certain people who only see us in warm weather think I have some sort of phobia that causes me to carry stuffed animals everywhere I go–one more thing to blame on the dog.

No Tisen in this one, but I like the extra curve of the sculpture

Perhaps I should shoot Tisen’s toys with the fisheye? Why do I suddenly see a future of retaking every shot I’ve ever taken with a fisheye lens now?

And, yes, I shot it with Hipstamatic as well

Fisheye

Posted by dkrashb on April 8, 2013

Multiplying the effects–Hipstamatic Tintype with Fisheye lens attachment!

I have been on a new mission: to learn how to get better photos out of my iPhone. As those of you who visit my blog often have undoubtedly seen, this led to getting addicted to the Tintype-like settings in Hipstamatic followed by a shooting spree of many of the same landmarks I’ve already shot far too many times before.

Similar to first image, but shot with the Camera! app instead of Hipstamatic

Well, now I have a new toy. So, I’m on a whole new spree. I succumbed to the temptation of taking a simple, no-need-to-carry-anything-extra device for photography, and added stuff that complicates it and requires carrying more stuff. However, this is the stuff:

The three-lens set

Perhaps it’s not obvious from this image, but the size of these little lenses are about the diameter of a quarter. One acts like a 2x teleconverter for the iPhone (or any smart phone) camera lens, making images appear 2x closer than they appear through the phone lens by itself. A second provides both wide angle views and (by unscrewing part of it) macro capabilities. The third creates a fisheye effect.

Fisheye Tisen using Camera! app on iPhone

Nearly the same image but with Hipstamatic app and Tintype effects

I have often wanted to try a fisheye lens. There are just times when fisheye looks so darn cool. However, no matter how much I wanted to give it a try, with prices ranging from $600-$1600, I just felt like it was more than I wanted to spend for something I wasn’t likely to use all that frequently.

In contrast, the fisheye attachment for the iPhone would have been $20 if I’d bought it by itself and was closer to $15 because I bought the 3-lens kit. Now, of course, I’m not going to get the same quality of images shooting with an iPhone with a $15 attachment stuck over the lens, but playing with what fisheye will do allows me to find out whether it is something I will use regularly or not with very little expense.

Tisen heading down the path

The lens attaches to the phone by sticking a magnetized washer that fits around the built-in lens. Once the magnet is adhered, the lens itself sticks to the magnet. Or, it could be the other way around–the magnet might be in the lens. In any case, it’s a simple but not foolproof way to attach the lens. The magnet is not strong enough to keep the lens from moving around when bumped. Because the screen is hard to see in bright sunlight, it’s hard to tell if the lens is no longer properly centered. Other than that, it’s a pretty ingenious system.

I am really digging how much of the foreground and background can be fit into a single image with the fisheye effect. I love being able to put Tisen in the foreground (at the end of a 4 ft leash) and still have the skyline in the background. The only problem with the extreme wide angle of fisheye is the tendency to end up with your feet in the image.

Looking down into a courtyard

Caverns and Tripods

Posted by dkrashb on April 7, 2013

One of my favorite shots of formations in the cave

Caves are dark. Really dark. In fact, the darkest places on earth. They are one of the few places you can go where no light penetrates. Of course, most cave tours don’t let you experience total darkness. This would be a problem trying to make your way through the narrow, rocky path with slippery spots, tripping hazards, and so many places to hit your head that the guide has special names for the worst of them.

Sabre Tooth Tiger–definitely could have used a tripod

But, some cave tours do turn off the lights for a moment so you can experience what total darkness is really like. The expression “can’t see your hand in front of your face” came from cavers. It is absolutely true when you are in total darkness–you have to imagine your hand is where you think it is because there is no visual confirmation.

The Iguana formation

Obviously, just about anything that contains the root “photo” in it doesn’t work in total darkness–photosynthesis, a photodiode, photoreactions, and certainly not photography.

After all, “photo” means light and when we’re talking about total darkness, we’re talking about rendering anything based on light useless. Our own eyes as well as our cameras are unable to see anything in total darkness.

Mini-stalagtites growing from the ceiling

That said, I wasn’t trying to shoot in total darkness. I was trying to shoot in the dim lights provided on the tour. This isn’t much light. There are a few choices to make in these conditions:

Crank up the ISO setting as high as is tolerable.
Sacrifice depth of field for a larger aperture opening to allow more light in.
Use a flash.
Use long exposures and set the camera on a tripod for sharpness.

Waterfall formation

I decided against choice 4. While I could have asked to see if bringing along a tripod would be a problem, I felt there was too much risk of damaging formations and/or tripping over them if I were trying to carry my big, bulky tripod through the cave.

I brought a flash unit, but decided against using it because, in part, of the un-predictability of flash bouncing off strange shapes and formations. Plus, I only had one flash and it was going to have to be on my camera. I was confident I would not get the kind of lighting I needed from that.

Big room view

I did open up the aperture a bit (from f/22 to f/16) to get a slightly faster shutter speed even if meant slightly less depth of field. I definitely cranked up the ISO setting. However, I drew the line at 8000 ISO. Higher ISO settings get too noisy for my tastes, especially when the scene is quite dark.

This meant shutter speeds as slow as ⅖ of a second. That may sound like barely an instant, but it’s actually quite challenging to hold a camera perfectly still that long. In the end, I was mostly pleased with the images I got, but all would have benefitted from a tripod.

Raccoon Mountain Caverns

Posted by dkrashb on April 6, 2013

A highly reflective pool below cave formations

As unbelievable as this may seem, there is a place within 15 minutes of Chattanooga that we haven’t been to before. It’s called Raccoon Mountain. There is the Raccoon Mountain Caverns part of Raccoon Mountain, a tourist attraction advertised by a multitude of billboards.

Outside the gift shop, an old cable car did not instill confidence

Then, there is the Raccoon Mountain Reservoir part of Raccoon Mountain. While I’m anxious to hike in the Reservoir part of the mountain, it was a rainy Sunday and my husband is still struggling with stress injuries in his feet, so, it was a good day to go discover the caverns part of the mountain.

A city of stalagmites

We headed out with the Tom-Tom app running on my iPhone since we weren’t sure how to get there. However, given that we knew we needed to take interstate 24 towards Nashville and once on 24, there was a billboard telling us where to turn every 100 yards or so, using the GPS was probably overkill.

We made it there without a single wrong turn. When we pulled into the drive, there were two directions to go: one was to the campgrounds while the other was toward the gift shop. The “campgrounds” reminded me of my very first “camping” trip as an adult. I went with a group of friends who had to explain to me, first of all, that we would be parking next to the tent. I had visions of us backpacking into the woods, so this notion of sleeping where we would park was somewhat disappointing. However, I still pictured us with a secluded camping site next to our parking spot. When they started loading up their truck with coolers and junk food and cases of beer, I grew suspicious that we were not going to enjoy the outdoors at all.

In fact, we paid for a tiny little campsite that had just enough space for the truck and two tents next to a fire ring and a picnic table. The site was so narrow, there was less than 3 feet between our tent and our neighbors’ tents on either side. There was little shade, no privacy, and I really thought we would have had a better time camping out in our friends’ backyard where we’d have had far more privacy and indoor plumbing much more conveniently located.

While the campgrounds made me worry about what the caverns were going to be like, there was no need to panic. The caverns were well maintained, respected as a natural artifact, and lighted with natural lights (I don’t know why, but I’m just not a fan of colored lights in natural caves).

Stalagmites in silhouette loom in the background

The 45 minute tour we took covered only about ⅓ of a mile in the largest open area. They also offer “wild” cave tours that involve dragging oneself through mud and tunnels and the like. I’ve done that once in my life, but that’s a long story. Maybe some other day we’ll come back to experience the less traveled part of the caves.

The lower right area is just big enough for a raccoon den

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