Shasta Caverns are massive caves made entirely of limestone, and there are stalactites, stalagmites and a host of other formations. It is like a fantasy land, and the limestone formations look like all kinds of creatures, both real and fanciful and mythological. It is like Alladin's cave of wonders, and walking through it feels unreal.
To reach the caverns, we had to take a ferry across the scenic lake Shasta.
We stepped out back into sunlight, and had this panoramic view of the lake from above.
And from the point where I took the above photo, I looked back, and just behind me, were these rocks. And can you see that? That is a fossil of a fish! Yup. At this height. The guide told us that all this was under the ocean millions of years ago. There were other fossils too, in the rock - and I'd never seen real fossils before, in their natural setting. And this wasn't even cordoned off, these were just any other rocks on the wayside. Somehow, it set my head spinning.
I do wish I had better pictures of the caverns, but you can always look them up if you're interested.
We also went on a tour of Shasta Dam. It is quite remarkable in its history and engineering.
The high point of the tour for Puttachi (ok, even us) was something totally unconnected to the dam. There was this long corridor, and the guide made us shout/clap and you could actually hear the sound waves going whooooosh and then hear the echo at the other end of the corridor after a sizeable gap of several seconds. I think none of us in the tour (all nationalities, all races, all ages) wanted to leave that corridor, we were having too much fun.
More about this vacation
To reach the caverns, we had to take a ferry across the scenic lake Shasta.
Across the lake, buses drove us uphill to the mouth of the caverns. My photographs don't do justice, because my camera is not good enough for photos in the dark, but here are a few just for you to get a feel.
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| The Cathedral Cave. It is at least 4 floors high, I think |
We stepped out back into sunlight, and had this panoramic view of the lake from above.
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| Lake Shasta |
And from the point where I took the above photo, I looked back, and just behind me, were these rocks. And can you see that? That is a fossil of a fish! Yup. At this height. The guide told us that all this was under the ocean millions of years ago. There were other fossils too, in the rock - and I'd never seen real fossils before, in their natural setting. And this wasn't even cordoned off, these were just any other rocks on the wayside. Somehow, it set my head spinning.
I do wish I had better pictures of the caverns, but you can always look them up if you're interested.
We also went on a tour of Shasta Dam. It is quite remarkable in its history and engineering.
The high point of the tour for Puttachi (ok, even us) was something totally unconnected to the dam. There was this long corridor, and the guide made us shout/clap and you could actually hear the sound waves going whooooosh and then hear the echo at the other end of the corridor after a sizeable gap of several seconds. I think none of us in the tour (all nationalities, all races, all ages) wanted to leave that corridor, we were having too much fun.
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