DIXIE CAVERNS

We have been looking for area attractions that Ann can maneuver with her foot still in the ankle boot.  We decided a tour of Dixie Caverns in Salem would be a good visit.  

These caverns were discovered in 1920 when two boys were playing on this mountain.  Their dog fell into a hole, so they went to rescue him.  When they were able to get the dog out, they found these massive underground caves.  The caverns are named after their dog--DIxie.  When Dixie Caverns first opened for tours in 1923, visitors had to crawl through narrow openings.  The passageways are now lighted and passable on foot without crawling along the limestone rock.  The entrance looks like a mine shaft from a western movie.

The first stop along the tour is the Cathedral room.  You can see that some of the cavern floor is paved with tiles.  Behind our guide are about 6 of the 347 steps inside the caverns.

The limestone inside the caverns was very colorful.  The rock "pencils" hanging down from the ceiling are called stalactites and the rock growing up from the bottom are called stalagmites.  Each drop of water from a stalactite adds growth to the rock formation.  Even with minimal lighting, you can easily see how beautiful these rock formations are.

Here is another view of the side of the cavern.

One of the first formations we came to was called the Totem Pole.  We could see how this tower got its name.

This pool of water is called the Magic Mirror. Unfortunately, we could not duplicate in the photo the mirror view we saw when looking at the surface of the water.  The rock below the pool of water is also growing downward.

This formation is called the Turkey Wing.  Several other guests from our tour are seen behind the Turkey Wing.

Paul is shown coming out from underneath the Wedding Bell.  This formation is an example of a flowstone formation.  These sheetlike deposits of calcite are formed when water flows down the walls or along floors of a cave.  Dozens of couples have actually gotten married here.

Behind the Cathedral Room is another room where bats gather in the winter and salamanders can be found in the summer.  The temperature inside the Dixie Caverns is a constant 55 degrees.  This is a very skinny salamander, probably not much food inside the caverns.

Our trip to Dixie Caverns was an enjoyable day outing.  It was good to see Ann being able to walk the quarter mile inside the caverns without any difficulty while wearing her boot.