Entrance into Double Bopper cave |
Imagine a place with some of the most majestic geology and unprecedented beauty.
Single and Double Bopper caves |
A world under our own where miles of hallways, some reaching as high as small buildings, can be found with the rock telling tales of an ancient past.
Miles of borehole |
A place where gypsum has many forms and properties as it develops into a twisting network of fiber optic crystal like formation.
notice the team in the upper right entrance? |
And a place that has left unexplained phenomena to head scratching questions on occurrences
that have taken the lives of many living organisms inside the cave.
Vertical entrance into Double Bopper cave |
exploration is still on-going on this beautiful planet and this subterranean world is just another example of how we have only "scratched the sub-surface".
Inside the entrance of Double Bopper cave |
This system has been held into secrecy since its discovery for a number of reasons.
An evening ascent |
The caves are world class and must be protected as on-going research is being conducted within the depths of these caves.
As exploration continues, more and more passage is uncovered which has made this cave a multi mile system with incredible gypsum features and other anomalies.
Walls covered by gypsum ribbons |
Another very odd feature of this cave is the unexplained death of many mammals that have appeared to have died due to some type of occurrence.
Typical borehole passage in Double Bopper cave |
Bats, bat, and more bats have been found, mummified and some still hanging from where they were hybridizing.
How can all of these preserved species of mammals still exist in their exact location and exist in a place where they died at a time when they would gather?
Gypsum Ribbon in Double Bopper cave |
It seems to have happened quite fast in relative terms
Mummified bat hanging from the gypsum ribbons |
Time might tell how these bats died and through on-going research.
mummified bat |
Inside the cave is like walking down a highway of breakdown boulders and subway like passages with many directions to go.
It can become quite easy to get lost if you are not paying attention.
a gypsum ribbon over 6 feet in length. |
In one of the walking corridors, one of, if not the longest gypsum ribbon can be found to be measured at over 6 feet in length.
Some of the other rooms had so much gypsum on the wall, a pans labyrinth of science fiction came to mind as the walls appeared to look alive with crystal and color.
Its difficult to describe a place like this as it is one of the most unique caves that have been discovered in modern day history.
continuing exploration is on-going and secrecy will continue to protect this underworld for the purposes of preservation, conservation, scientific study, and safety.
What the future will hold for such a wonderful place is yet to be determined but for now, the caving community will continues to document world under what we know as a frontier.
We anticipate more will be discovered in the coming years