RE: Member Photos
November 28, 2011 at 2:45 pm
(This post was last modified: November 28, 2011 at 2:48 pm by orogenicman.)
(November 28, 2011 at 12:24 pm)thesummerqueen Wrote: Since I'm poor but like going places, I've been trying to pack sight-seeing into every trip I make to the Manassas area (as evidenced by the Battlefield pictures above). On my way back, I hit Skyline Caverns - a place I hadn't been to in 16 years. Last time was for a friend's 10th birthday party. I still have the geode slice I bought.
Anyway. I apologize for the horribly shitty camera quality. My Sony did NOT like the lighting conditions, no matter how I tried to adjust for it, then ran out of batteries just as the guide was going to take a picture of me (coincidence?) so I switched to my Palm Pre. The Pre actually did better as far as lighting went, but can't zoom or focus very well.
The caves were discovered in 1937 by a retired geologist who saw the nearby sinkhole and went mucking about to see if there were any caverns. He found a ledge that was partially submerged in Virginia clay and mud (one of the most glorious back-breaking soils) and had 13 men help him clear it out until they broke into the caverns, which were otherwise clear except for a portion I'll get to later.
Many of the passages bore evidence of the inland sea that used to cover the area - I confess I didn't have my notebook out to copy down what the guide was saying so I don't know how many millions of years ago - but the weathering was pretty.
<snip>
Very nice. I used to do a lot of caving when I was a geology student. I am not physically able to do it anymore, unfortunately. But when I could I saw a lot of very interesting caves. A close friend of mine who is now a state trooper is a member of our state's cave rescue outfit. He is still actively exploring caves all over the eastern U.S. He is also an accomplished photographer who specializes in cave photography. Here is his web site, which includes links to some of his cave photography:
http://www.darklightimagery.net/
Be sure to check out his Camps Gulf pages, and especially the rumbling falls page..
Enjoy.
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero