The most surreal experience in my life had to have been when my family visited the Indian Echo Caves of Pennsylvania. It was the summer of 2015, and the sun scorched the back of our necks as my family met up with the tour group to experience the wonders that was the this mysterious cave. The cave entrance was situated next to a gorge filled with vegetation, where one can see the entire Appalachian Landscape. After our tour guide explained the Native American history of the caverns, our journey began and we all descended into the depths of the cavern. We were immediately hit with cool air that seemed to have surrounded our entire body as we continued into the cave, which was a pleasant contrast to the beaming heat of the summer sun outside. …show more content…
Stalactites hung from ceilings like icicles and stalagmites sprung up from the ground in different peaks and colors. I was interested how all these rocks were able to tell their own story. As I stared at these rock structures, I felt myself traveling back in time, witnessing the years that it took for a water droplet to form a large cylindrical configuration. There were places where the stalactites and stalagmites met, forming an elegant column that portrayed a million year work of a natural process. The walls of the caverns were spotted with fluorescent minerals that gleamed of silky textures of which I only dreamed of touching, but our tour guide insists that we do not, as to maintain absolute conservation of the cavern. As we traveled farther into the caverns, the light source slowly diminished. There was sections of the cave where the electric lights were removed and I could experience complete darkness. Much to my surprise, true darkness has a very strong impact on me. I was aware that I stood in the middle of a large cavern, but the absence of light gave me such a surreal feeling; the feeling that I was asleep, perhaps even dreaming. It was impossible to tell at one point if I was conscious, as all my senses were hindered. The feeling of complete darkness is one experience that was etched into my mind
The paper talked about the new mud glyph cave art site the was discovered in northern Alabama. It is believe that the artifacts and the images that is located in the cave linked back to the Early and Middle Woodland periods. The cave was named “19th Unnamed Cave” by a naming system that was used be University of Tennessee. Other main points in this paper include the 19th Unnamed Cave, the mud glyph art that it contains, and how the mud glyph contributes to the understanding of mud glyph assemblage preservation, and it helps illuminates the chronological placement of the art form. The cave is located in northern Alabama with a cave mouth of 25 m in diameter and with more than 5 km of underground passageways. The article hypothesized that since the entrance of the cave had some fluvial action, there would no archaeological material that would have been preserved.
The entire tour requires a lot of walking, so wearing tennis shoes is recommended. Dress prepared for a cool environment because while inside the cave you will experience temperatures from 50-60 degrees. As you walk along the tour of the Bristol Caverns, a tour guide will inform you about the history of the cave: such as the original entrance place to the caverns used by the Cherokee Indians and how an early pioneer would store his fruit in the cave for extended freshness (tour guide). While the guide leads you through the cave of the caverns, you can view many formations and scenes. The formations are called stalagmites and stalagtites, which are created by the moisture and minerals in the cave hardening. One inch of these formations lengths can take from 150-300 years to form (tour guide). During the tour you will venture through different levels of the cave.
In the second stage, the cave dweller can now see the objects that previously only appeared to him as shadows. “Will he not fancy that the shadows which he formerly saw are truer th...
The “bodily eye” relies on sensory perceptions about the world in order to determine what is reality. Metaphorically speaking, the cave is a physical world filled with imperfect images. This world is filled with distorted images about reality.
...felt for those who “need a light for the night” and could go to sleep only “with daylight”; the American soldier told us that “if I could have a light I was not afraid to sleep because I knew my soul would only go out of me if I were dark”; and Nick told Captain Paravicini that he could not sleep “without a light or some sort.” What all of them share, we can say, is a fear of Death and Nada.
imagery of darkness. It is interesting to note how the speaker distinguishes these details, yet in
We are asked in Book VII of The Republic to imagine a group of people sitting inside a cave, with their hands and feet bound. It is by this that we can decipher that these people did not ask to be in the cave but are merely prisoners. By being chained they are only able to observe what is in front of them, unable to fully see their surroundings or the people who reside in the cave with them. Behind the prisoners there is a fire burning, this fire is the only source of light in the cave. There is also a wall, where people, walking along a pathway carry objects of various materials, shapes, and sizes. These objects are held higher than the wall itself. With the aid of the fire burning behind the wall these objects are projected onto the wall in front of the prisoners as dancing shadows. The prisoner’s ignorance would lead them to believe that the names which they use to describe the various shadows were indeed the names of the object themselves. These prisoners have been residence of the cave since their childhood, and have grown to accept their surroundings are being true. Their entire experience is based on the shadows, which u...
The documentary, Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog starts with one of the biggest discoveries in history. Starting with, three explorers who traveled to Southern France in 1994. They were looking out for drafts of air around rocks, hoping that the air would lead them to caves. As they explored and searched they discovered rocks in their narrow journey that led them to make one of the biggest discoveries in human history, a cave. First, not knowing what the cave was, after further searching they came to discover art paintings, hand prints/bones and stories that were left behind by what they believe to be from the Paleolithic Era. The Chavet Cave, named after one of the discoverers, contained art paintings that were the oldest ever in all of history. Now, scientists will enter the cave with strict directions of shutting the door shut, for climate conditions in the cave, using certain lighting, and staying on the two feet walkway created.
As visitors approach one of the most beautiful inns in North Carolina they will be serenaded by the rhythmic thumping of the tires as they cross each cobblestone. The inn is like a massive wall of rocks that looks to be touching the blue sky. The red tile roof looks like a red cloud sitting atop this castle of rocks. These rocks were placed over one hundred years ago and still stand in their exact spot. From the parking area you can almost imagine the horse drawn wagons that had worked so hard to pull these massive boulders up to this very spot. You can see all the hard work that had went into clearing this mountain side for the inn to begin construction in the year 1912. If you listen very close you can just hear its history calling out to you.
The mountains were tall (11,000 feet +) and covered with bright powdery snow. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. I was eager to set-up camp and prepare for our nine day hunt. But, Dad said that we had to drive around and check out all the good places, just to make sure that we were in the best area. This was partially understandable, but since I am a teenager I'm not supposed to understand anything! So, we spent another several hours driving. We went up and down through the mountains and then we saw it. The spot was beautiful; it was right on the edge of a vertical drop-off, over looking everything. It was like paradise, but colder!
A couple of years ago during one of those, on a whim after spending a few days in Arches National Park, my wife and I detoured to the snowy, icy south rim of the Grand Canyon. We journeyed toward it from the east side but got turned back at the National Parks’ gate; the road was snowed under from there on up. After retracing our steps, we traveled down to Flagstaff and spent the night, driving in my four by four truck up to the South Rim the next day. It was an eerie experience to stand on the edge of the South Rim and see only cloud; fog shrouded the canyon’s great gap, leaving us with visual doubts that anything was really there. Defeated, we hit the Visitor’s Center and gathered information so we could go back sometime in the spring or fall with weather more to our liking.
The dull light of the sun somehow manages to kindle my senses in a way I had never seen or felt before. Everything felt like it came to a standstill and the effect of the light made the scene look like one in a painting. The waves break gently into white foam on the black beach. The small crystals in the sand glimmer and twinkle brilliantly against the sunrays. The seagulls ride with the wind and the soft sand cushions my toes.
I was smacked in the face by a gust of hot, humid Texas air as I found my way off the bus. The once brisk morning was getting hotter by the second. My friend Kristi and I looked towards our left and there she was, the Norwegian Sea. The cruise liner that we would be on for the next week. It was the biggest ship I had ever seen up close. Ten stories high and nearly 1000 feet long. It had an intimidating presence that took one's breath away.
I have not had many meaningful moments with nature, even though I have many encounters with it. But the encounter that is the most prevalent in my mind is my vacation at Willow Lake, Minnesota. Here I had encounters with nature on the water, out bike riding, and watching a storm come in the distance.