Magnus Goes Caving, Finally! Day 7

 Tuesday 18 March

And we were off for our 1-1/2 hour drive to Caverns of Sonora RV Park.  It was hard to make ourselves delay so as not to get there too early, but it turned out to be a very low-key, easygoing place. The check-in process involved filling out information on a tiny form and running a credit card through for $25/night. Then they told us to go pick any site.

That proved to be slightly difficult, because the little gravel area they had cleared with water and electric hookups was mostly empty. I think there were only two or three other campers there while we were there, and there were about 25 or 30 sites available. But the best one--the one we chose--was just a little two short and "tight" for us to get into without a great deal of backing and fronting and just not worth the effort. Plus there was a tree branch over it.

So we chose one of the easier access, sunny spots and were soon done. There was any sewer hookup, probably because the whole thing was located right over the cave system. There were probably sewer hookups for the permanent residents and the little store, but I can't imagine them wanting to overload the groundwater and risk polluting the cave.

 Bought these at the store while waiting for the cave tour.

Quartz crystals

Bumpy things in the cave

Lots of hangy things in the cave

We were there for two nights, but we arrived in plenty of time to go ahead a do an afternoon cave tour. It took about 1-1/2 hours. Great cave. Just absolutely great. All full of quartz crystals and just tons of growing formations of soda straws and fins (forget the term) and columns and just about everything except the huge chunks of "flowstone" I've seen in other caves.  So cool.

The tour guide was great, too. He was a young guy and I don't think he'd been working there more than a year or two, but he'd taken ownership of "our cave" in a way that made him as happy to show it off as a father with a new-born baby.

That about it. Walking Molly was a little challenging because there was nowhere especial to go except round and round the camping area. But not bad.  Lot's of purple martins and swallows that were having to share their ceramic "gourd" housing unit with house sparrows and starlings. A shame.  A vermilion flycatcher lived in the campground and the eternal mockingbirds and Bewick's wrens.