Today, Marilyn and I drove the Jeep up the “CSA (Confederate States of America) Army of the Tennessee Highway” (US-27) toward Chattanooga to see Ruby Falls.
I am going to include some history about Ruby Falls from paraphrased from Wikipedia. “Ruby Falls Cave, unlike Lookout Mountain Cave, had no natural openings and could not be entered until the 20th Century;… In 1905 the natural entrance to Lookout Mountain Cave was closed during the construction of a railway tunnel. In the 1920s a chemist and cave enthusiast named Leo Lambert thought that he could re-open the cave as a tourist attraction, and formed a company to do so. He planned to make an opening further up the mountain than the original opening and transport tourists to the cave via an elevator. For this purpose, his company purchased land on the side of Lookout Mountain above Lookout Mountain Cave and in 1928 began to drill through the limestone. In doing so, they discovered a small passageway about 18 inches high and four feet wide. Exploring this opening, Lambert discovered the formerly hidden Ruby Falls Cave and its waterfall. On his next trip to visit the cave, Lambert took his wife Ruby, and told her that he would name the falls after her.”
It is interesting that, to this day, the entrance to the Ruby Falls Cave is via an elevator. In 1975, a second exit cave was cut in case of elevator failure.
The cave floor is an easy 1/2 mile walk to the falls, and of course, a 1/2 mile walk back. There are a few steps, some water, and an occasional low ceiling. As with many caves, there are some very different formations of stalagmites and stalactites I took lots of pictures, some with, and some without flash. Due to the lighting of the various formations, some looked better without the flash. Here are a few.
Some of the formations have names, some of which you must stretch your imagination to see what someone else saw. (1) is an elephant’s foot, (2) the Hall of Dreams, (3) Leaning Tower, (4) Niagara Falls, (5) a better view of Niagara Falls, (6) a Western Sunset, (7) the Mirror Pool is a blue lit pool of water, (8) supposed to be two potatoes next to a steak. 
This picture was one I found unusual. 
Pictures of the falls themselves are interesting because of the lighting. As I stood there taking pictures the lens became spotted with the mist.
Just to prove we were there, our guide took a picture with my camera. 
Hugs, and Type at You Later.
Larry,
ReplyDeleteSo what do you think that photo resembled?