Photo of the Day: June 14, 2015

This was shot in an incredibly remote portion of the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas this past March. This specific waterfall is call "Glory Hole Waterfall" and is unique in that the stream that feeds it eroded an opening in the roof of a cave where the water now pours through.

Blanchard Springs Caverns Adventure!

Is this earth??? In Blanchard Springs Caverns, expect breathtaking rock formations.

Last week I had the privilege of exploring the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas. I visited many incredible places, however one of the most beautiful was the Blanchard Springs Caverns. This incredible three-level cave system is called a "living cave" due to its continuous evolution at the mercy of water. I went on the most popular cave tour offered, the "Dripstone Tour". The guide took us through two massive rooms within the first level of the cave system.

 As you can guess, it was incredibly dark within the cave and without permission to use a tripod many of these images turned out grainier than I would have liked. Maybe I am just being overly-critical of my own work...regardless, I hope that this post can act as a snippet of what you can expect to see in this incredible underground world. If you are ever near Arkansas, head over to the Ozarks and to the phenomenal Blanchard Springs Caverns!

This is a photograph of my favorite space in the cave that our guide took us to. Those formations along the ceiling are known as "Soda Straws" - young stalactites. These inconceivably fragile formations covered the room...beautiful, yes?

A crazy flowstone formation! I wish that I could somehow show how enormous so many of these formations are. This one absolutely dwarfed me!

The main room, the "Cathedral Room". The sheer scale of this space was difficult to fathom at first.

Um, I am pretty sure that this is something from that "Avatar" movie. But its not, just some amazing consequences of water gushing underground.

Another image within the Cathedral Room. The handrailing centered near the bottom of the photograph gives a sense of scale of the enormity of these formations.

Frozen smoke? Nope. Water did this; H2o continues to make the cave evolve.

Is that Jaws gaping mouth?

This marshmellowy looking stuff is a rock-solid flowstone formation. 

Overall I cannot recommend the Blanchard Springs Caverns enough. It was something that I will never forget and I hope that you will have the opportunity to visit this spectacular place as well! The Visitor Center and Museum were beautiful and the staff and guides were all fantastic. Two thumbs up!

Returning from the Ozarks was a Difficult Thing to do...

As I attempt to get back into the swing of normal everyday life again it is all too easy to get caught up  in reflecting on the wonderful trip that I just had over my Spring Break. Rather than running off to some tropical beach, I spent the week exploring and photographing the Ozark National Forest in Arkansas. I cannot wait to share the many stories and photographs that I gathered while I was there. 

The image above is of the Glory Hole, a remote waterfall located off of the beaten path in the forest. It surprisingly is not advertised and is not visible on the National Forest's maps and directions, despite being one of the most beautiful spots there (in my opinion). A mountain stream flowing over the rocky hillside eroded a circular "portal" into a cave beneath it, creating a stunning waterfall through the ceiling.

Shout out to Alyssa for letting me use her as my human scale figure in this image as she was testing the temperature of the chilly mountain water with her hand. I will be doing a more in depth post or two on this waterfall and its surroundings when I have more time (hopefully later this week), including how to find it if you are to ever visit the Ozarks and want to visit a remote-yet-beautiful landmark.