Tag: Sequoia National Park

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Cave Pearl Crystal Cave Sequoia National Park

There are several opportunities to see “cave pearls” when exploring Crystal Cave in Sequoia National Park (CA). Cave pearls form when acidic water drips onto grains of sand or tiny stones. The dripping water causes the grains to move so that they do not attach to the cave floor while the calcite within the water causes the grains of sand to grow into bigger pebbles (and then rocks) as more and more calcite covers them. This is a cave pearl found among the rimstone dams in the Fairy Pools formation in the Dome Room at Crystal Cave.

Cave pearl at Fairy Pool in Crystal Cave Sequoia National Park

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Fairy Pools Crystal Cave Sequoia National Park

My favorite of the many magnificent cave formations at Crystal Cave in Sequoia National Park (CA) was the Fairy Pools. Also located in the Dome Room, these delicate flowstone dam pools are perfectly framed by other cave formations which make them look like they do come out of some type of fairy tale:

Fairy Pools in Dome Room in Crystal Cave at Sequoia National Park

The Fairy Pools are right along the cave path which allows you to inspect them closely (not from a distance as with many of the other popular formation within the cave). This allows you to see up close and personal how calcite makes many different types of cave formations in a single spot:

Lily Pads in the Fairy Pools formation in Crystal Cave

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Organ Room Crystal Cave Sequoia National Park

One of many spectacular formations within Crystal Cave in Sequoia National Park (CA) is the Organ Room. This is a huge cave formation that, when viewed in its entirety, resembles the giant church organs of years gone by.

Organ Room in Crystal Cave at Sequoia National Park

The Organ Room also gives a good lesson on the effect which people have over time in caves. In the below photo you can see that the cave formation is bright white on the right side and a muddy gray on the right. The dingy look of the rock on the left is from the accumulation of human debris (oil from hands touching, skin flakes, etc) left in the cave over time which hasn’t been cleaned.

Organ Room in Crystal Cave

It’s because of this type of damage that the Touching Rock is available at the Crystal Cave entrance and everyone is asked to not touch the formations within the cave.

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Junction Room Crystal Cave Sequoia National Park

After passing Emerald Pools and continuing to follow Yucca Creek within Crystal Cave in Sequoia National Park (CA), you soon come to Junction Room. This is the first large room that you come to in Crystal Cave, and as the name indicates, is a junction room that you will eventually come back to during the tour of Crystal Cave. The room is distinctive from the large rectangular rock formation in the center of the room:

Junction Room in Crystal Cave at Sequoia National Park

In addition to being the junction area of the cave, Junction Room also has a nice display of soda straws and popcorn cave formations:

Junction Room in Crystal Cave

Yucca Creek also flows directly through Junction Room:

Yucca Creek flows through Junction Room in Crystal Cave

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Yucca Creek Crystal Cave Sequoia National Park

The water that flows through Crystal Cave in Sequoia National Park (CA) is Yucca Creek which flows into Cascade Creek. As soon as you move into the entrance of Crystal Cave and pass through the spiderweb gate, you can here the gurgling of Yucca Creek as it passes through the cave:

Yucca Creek in Crystal Cave Sequoia National Park

Yucca Creek also reveals that Crystal Cave is a rare marble cave (only about 5% of the caves in the world are marble caves) like at Oregon Caves National Monument and the river bed reveals the marble of Crystal Cave:

Marble exposed in Yucca Creek Crystal Cave

Yucca Creek is evident well into the cave even after passing Emerald Pools:

Yucca Creek in cave