Sun Valley - Day 3

Today there was no need to head to launch; we all decided there wasn't going to be any flying just by looking out the window. Just to be sure, we checked on line, and the winds at Sargent Mt. were blowing 46-60 mph. A morning to sleep in... The organizer had a meeting at HQ just to keep people busy, but we went spelunking instead.

There are lava tubes in the planes south of Ketchum. We went to the BLM office in Soshone and picked up some maps showing the non-commercial caves and took the station wagon off road. What you see above ground is this:
Look a little closer and you find...


This was in Maze Cave. We were determined to find our way so pushed on with flashlights and head lamps into some very tiny openings. Lots of crawling on hands and knees, bumping your head and generally wondering if you would find your way out again.




We went to three caves today, the most impressive was Tee Cave with tunnels like a subway. You had to crawl to get into the cave, but when you got a ways down the tunnell it opened up to 30 feet wide and 15 high. These were underground rivers of lava, and when the lava stopped being pushed up, most drained out leaving the tunnels half full.