Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Underground Adventure

This past weekend, my wife, some friends and I all drove to southern Arizona to visit Kartchner Caverns and the Copper Queen Mine.  It was very interesting being underground in these two locations.  It felt a little like a dungeon adventure!

Some comparison/contrast observations:

Cavern Mine
Walls are smooth, natural in appearance Walls are rough, chunky, evidence of tools used
Wet, dripping water, mud, pools of water Dry, dusty
Warm, humid (80°F+) Cold, dry (47°F)
Flowstone, stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws Wooden supports, metal bolts, tools
Bats, guano, crickets, ground sloth Evidence of human(oid) activity


One key idea -- without light you are doomed!!!

Here are some pics I found online of the two places.  Enjoy!

KARTCHNER CAVERNS








THE COPPER QUEEN MINE







2 comments:

Trey said...

Good pics and observations.

One particular picture gives me an idea. What if our ol pal the hook horror was recast as a subterranean subspecies of megatherium?

Jim said...

@Trey -- super cool idea. You could just "reskin" the Hook Horror and viola!