[Image] For day 3 of our Fall Break (Day 1, Day 2), we headed to the Lava River Cave near Flagstaff (directions in the link). My brother warned me that this was a very popular destination, but I figured since it was a weekday and raining, there wouldn't be many people there. Wrong! We saw about 30 other people in the lava tube. And apparently that's a tiny amount, the parking lot is enormous.

The trail is signed and near the cave is a sign telling folks to bring headlamps and not to leave graffiti. Since I'm a caver, I thought the cave conservation and caver safety messages could be beefed up quite a bit.
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We navigated the puddles to take a look at the map of the .75 mile long cave and the entrance. The map was pretty simple, it's one tube that goes in nearly a straight line. There's one place with an obstruction in the middle.
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We put on our gear, which included not only headlamps, but also helmets and kneepads, and descended into the dark.
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Actually there was quite a bit of algae growing on the lava near the entrance. It looked kind of cool and eerie at the same time.
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What we found down below was a lot of walking passage, but the floor was often jagged and uneven.
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Sometimes the ceiling was really high.
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And sometimes it was kind of low (this is the right fork of the obstruction).
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I had my good camera with me and enjoyed trying to take some cave photos that showed how large the passage was. I was a bit surprised at all the coloration, I was definitely expecting more dark lava color.
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I also thought there might be some lavacicles, but I didn't see any lava tube formations except a bit of moonmilk.
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We stopped to try and take a group photo, but it came out a little blurry.
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Then we heard voices, lots of voices. It turned out a school group of 20 kids was in the cave with us. We stopped so they could pass and we could enjoy a quieter visit. They all had lights, but none had helmets. Some had some really inappropriate footwear that made me wince.
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We continued on, but the back of the lava tube was nasty with a weird odor, plus a dirty diaper. We didn't want to stay there. So we headed back out.
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I took a few more photos on the way out, enjoying the colors again.
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The kids did great, this was an easy cave for them. I think they wanted a little more challenge. So we went into a little hole on the other side of the entrance and squirmed around in crawling passages for ten minutes in the collapsed part of the lava tube. If there's a way to the big one, we didn't find it, but we still appreciated a little crawling time. Maybe it makes me feel like a kid again.
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One of the best things about leaving the lava tube is that the sun had come out. It was so beautiful in the ponderosa pine forest!
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Did I mention it was beautiful?
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We had a picnic lunch and goofed around. Then we got cold and decided it was time to head to our next adventures.
[Image] If you decide to visit Lava River Cave, I recommend good headlamps, backup lights, and a helmet. Kneepads really aren't necessary. Also be prepared for a lot of people. The cave was pretty clean, but it wouldn't hurt to take in a small trash bag and leave the cave a little cleaner than you find it.