Highlights from Lava Beds National Monument - part 2

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On Thursday 6/29/2023, we visited Lava Beds National Monument again! We got to explore Hopkin's chocolate cave, Golden Dome cave, and Hercules' leg cave. 


Enjoy these photos!

Outside the caves, there was a sweet butterfly that kept flying around us. Then, it landed on Catherine's helmet and didn't want to leave. I was able to get some beautiful close-up pictures.



Here we are outside Golden Dome cave! 


Dad outside a cave (I think it's a different one from the one above. It's our car in the background, too!)


I think this entrance is called the "headache" entrance or something like that. That is because the entrance is so narrow that people sometimes accidentally bump their head on the ledge! Thankfully we are all on the smaller side and we were careful and didn't bump our heads.




Caves have three different zones - the entrance zone (lots of sunlight), the twilight zone (a little bit natural light) and the dark zone (no natural light - if you turn the flashlights off, you can't even see your hand in front of your face!)


Here are some family/sibling selfies at the entrance/twilight zone:



And then there is the dark zone of the cave, where all the light is from our flashlights. We experimented with different angles of flaslight lighting to get some photos inside the cave.



Behind my parents are yellow spreads of actinobacteria, which grow inside the caves and are covered with moisture. The camera doesn't capture it well, but in real life, the actinobacteria look like glistening gold and silver. God's creation is so beautiful!


These caves are made from hardened lava from a volcanic eruption many years ago. If you look at the ground in the picture below, it looks like streaks of lava flowing.



Some of the caves had some fun, challenging tunnels to crawl through! Theodore and I got to explore this one!


I didn't go as far as Theodore on this one. You have to crawl on your tummy in a plank-like position for 12+ feet or so! That takes a lot of muscle and perseverance!


Theodore on his way back!


Waiting for, watching, and photographing Theodore :)




That's all the photos for this year's visit to Lava Beds National Monument! I look forward to visiting again in the future. Hope you enjoyed this post!

-Grace


P.S. If any of you have young children or younger siblings, there is something called the 4th grade pass! With the pass the 4th grader and your family can go to all the National Parks for free for one year!

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