Vacation part 6: Scenic Caves - the caves

Once we reached the place where all the caves were, the pathways started to be very narrow and the stone walls high. There were a lot of warning signs urging people to stay within the fences, and it would indeed be foolish to ignore the signs. You can also see why you are required to have hiking or running shoes if you want to go to the Scenic caves.

Narrow passages #1 Narrow passages #2 Narrow passages #3 Narrow passages #4 Narrow passages #5 Narrow passages #6 Narrow passages #7 Narrow passages #8 Narrow passages #9 Narrow passages #10 Narrow passages #11

Along the trail, there were a few attractions, either caves or interesting stone formations. This is the ice cave; the temperature in this cave gradually (but pretty fast) falls as you descend lower.

Ice cave #1 Ice cave #2 Ice cave #3

This is the Ekarenniondi, a historic site of the Petun's famous standing rock. Here, on their way to the Village of the Souls, Oscotarach (Head Piercer) would remove the brains of the dead. Afterlife would then be happier because the souls could no longer remember their earthly existence and those left behind.

Ekarenniondi #1 Ekarenniondi #2

One of the passes between the rocks is very narrow, only 36 centimeters wide. It's called the Fat Man's Misery. You can either try to squeeze through, or you can take a longer but wider path. There was a long queue of people waiting to go through, but some of the people decided to turn back, so the wait was pretty long. The cavern looked really tiny, so a lot of people who would otherwise be able to go through decided not to try their luck. Michal decided to go through; the most difficult thing was not passing through, but believing that one can do it after seeing the tiny hole between the rocks. The first few pictures show the people waiting, the sixth picture is taken from the (still wide) entrance to the cave, and the last two pictures show the tiny hole from the outside (including a leg and then a whole girl passing through).

Fat Man's Misery #1 Fat Man's Misery #2 Fat Man's Misery #3 Fat Man's Misery #4 Fat Man's Misery #5 Fat Man's Misery #6 Fat Man's Misery #7 Fat Man's Misery #8

There were a lot of rocks on the paths. Some (well, most) were large enough to climb on them, though it sometimes wasn't easy to stay on the rocks for more than a few seconds. Other rocks were flat and easy to stay on. And yes, we are silly! Totally!

The rocks #1 The rocks #2 The rocks #3 The rocks #4 The rocks #5 The rocks #6 The rocks #7

Last of the attractions was the Indian Chief. Can you spot what and where the Chief is?

Indian Chief #1

The nature is indeed beautiful in the Scenic Caves.

The scenery #1 The scenery #2

The journey back to the entrance leads through a few more rocks and steps that we had to climb, but after a short while it was mostly through the wood and down the hill.

Climbing up #1 Climbing up #2 Climbing up #3

The most difficult part of the journey back to the entrance was the group of tourists of Japanese origin. They were somewhat loud, so we had to take a lot of effort to walk very slowly to make sure they will stay well ahead of us. At least it gave Nicole and Torsten enough time to hug and kiss!

The wood #1 The wood #2 The wood #3 The wood #4 The wood #5

Before heading back home, we took a little siesta. And a lot of ice-cream, both vanilla and chocolate!

Siesta #1 Siesta #2 Siesta #3 Siesta #4 Siesta #5

If you were wondering how the Invisibility spell might work in Everquest, you may want to check the following picture. And if you were wondering what Lukraak would do in case the end of the world, you can check the next one.

Invisibility #1 End of the world #1

Copyright notice: Text, images, and videos copyright by Michal Řeháček, Nicole, Torsten, John Philip, Darlene Sine.