I slept late for a change while Tina got up early and walked the dogs for me. It is a beautiful morning with sunshine and a temperature in the mid 60's with a promise of mid 70's by the afternoon. Yeaaaa!!
Today we decided to do something a little different. We're going to explore a local cave by boat. We left around 10:30 AM for a noon appointment at "Penn's Cave" about twenty three miles away in another Appalachian valley. Penn's Cave has quite a history (http://www.pennscave.com/) starting back in 1773 with the original land purchase. The cave was discovered first by local Indians but was first explored in 1795 by the Rev. James Martin.
Penn’s Cave was formed in two cycles: first, the dissolving of limestone rock by slightly acidic ground water deep below the surface, and second, the lowering of the water table and draining of the cavities. Over time water continues to dissolve the limestone, and the initial path along a joint or fracture becomes enlarged to a form a cave passage. This cave has two natural entrances. The water entrance opens from the bottom of a sinkhole several hundred feet in diameter and 75 feet deep. This entrance is at the water level defined by the underground stream, and the second, or Dry Cave entrance, is at the bottom of a small sink in the front yard of the former Penn’s Cave Hotel, now known as the Penn’s Cave House. A third entrance was opened in 1929 by blasting a 75- foot tunnel through rock at the downstream end of the cave to permit boats to emerge onto Lake Nitannee, which was created by constructing a small dam on Penn's Creek.
We parked beside the Penn's Cave Hotel and walked over to the visitor center to purchase our tickets. After we walked around the store it was time to walk down to the cave entrance and join our guide. After walking down a winding path along the hillside we got to the 48 steps leading down to the cave entrance and the boarding platform. Several long boats with small motors were moored to the cement quay. They looked more like "English punts" without the pole. 
There were about a dozen of us for the noon tour. Our guide walked on board and flipped down the side seats giving them a wipe before we joined him and got seated. Tina and I were last to board, sitting in the front of the boat. After a brief safety lecture we set off backwards into the depths of the cave leaving the light behind. Once into the mouth of the cave our guide used a small spot light to highlight different formations and note the closeness of several tight spots in very narrow passages. 
Our tour through the cave included stops at three of the larger caverns where the guide was able to access a light switch to light the cavern and highlight the formations. It was really very nice, even though the formations weren't as spectacular as others we've seen on this trip.
Eventually we reached the end of the cave and motored out into Nitnany Lake and around one of the small islands. Penn's Cave also is a wildlife sanctuary and we could see several elk and white tail deer over on shore. After we circled the island it was time to head back through the cave on the return trip. This time bow first. It's pretty amazing how our guide was able to navigate this long narrow boat through the dark and narrow passages with only a small spot light. On the way back we saw several formations from a different angle and with the light on them from a different direction. Pretty cool!
We returned to the entrance and disembarked for the return to higher ground. We purchased a couple of items in the gift shop then walked out to the car. Across the street a small herd of buffalo was eating grass and laying around. Driving toward the entrance we got some close-ups of several bull elk just coming into their antlers while a couple of females were grazing nearby. We continued into the small town of Center Pointe and stopped at a small Italian restaurant for lunch. I had chicken parmigiana, Tina had sausage parmigiana. Both were very good!
Leaving town we drove to Historic Bellefonte. Originally we just planned to stop at a grocery store to do a little shopping but as we got closer to town we were intrigued by how nice a place it was. We drove around downtown looking at the architecture and majesty of the buildings before we wound up down next to the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and parked across from the old railroad station. Between the train station and the river the city has created an absolutely beautiful park.
We walked down to the river and across the foot bridge then walked along the riverside to watch a man feeding a school of trout. It was a mix of rainbow, golden rainbow and brown trout. They schooled right below us so we could watch them jostle each other for pieces of bread. Across the way we watched a mother goose, father goose and two goslings make their way upstream along the other side of the river. The smallest gosling was having a lot of trouble getting up onto the bank against the current. Eventually Mom and Dad and the larger gosling returned to the smaller gosling, gathered it up and headed back downstream. After an enjoyable afternoon we drove back through town to the grocery store, stopped for some supplies and returned home. The kids were glad to see us! Tina fixed a great beef stew for dinner, yum, yum! Tomorrow is a travel day so we made it an early night.
To see all of today's photos click on the following link:
2 comments:
The cave reminded me of the one near camp Roganunda (sp?). And that Lori and Jim love to sing her camp song. I think they were about 12 years old. Good times and good kids. Great photo work you two !
p.s. Wasn't that holodeck 8? (Much more stable and less of the self-autonomy problems of 9.)
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