The "Journey To The Center Of The Earth" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just spent an hour riding in a twelve to fifteen foot flat bottom boat with about 20 other people through America's only all water cavern which was formed in limestone by rivers millions of centuries ago. I feel like I'm in the center of the earth! Penn's Cave, near Centre Hall, PA, was discovered by the Seneca Indians centuries ago. The legend goes that the Indian maiden, Nitanee, from whom the famous Penn State Nittany Lion is named, and her French trapper lover, Malachi Boyer were unable to marry because of Indian custom so they ran away together, but were later captured and Malachi was thrown into Penn's Cave to die. Didn't see him during our trip today. In 1885 the cavern was opened to the public and today is on the National Register of Historic places. Our tour guide today was Paul who recently graduated from Penn State with an electrical engineering degree. His hobby is spelunking and after graduation he took a job giving tours of Penn's Cave. Great guy with a fantastic sense of humor. The mile long trip through the year-round 52 degree cavern showed the many rooms of the cave and was both interesting and amazing. Lights illuminated many of the stalactites (from the ceiling of the cave) and stalagmites (from the floor of the cave) that looked like familiar forms. Paul had names for most of the formations, and I must admit I thought he was making them up until I saw a brochure that had the same names. Water dripped on us for most of the trip from the ceiling of the cave and it was the dripping water that formed the amazing scenes that we saw throughout the tour. We exited at the other end of the cave into the man-made lake Nitanee, and returned through the cave to the cavern entrance dock which was made by forming 48 steep steps from the water filled cave below to the visitor's center above. As I made my journey today I couldn't help but wonder, what if there was an earthquake at this very minute and I was under tons and tons of limestone. But, I'm typing right now, so I did survive for yet another story! It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photos from the top are: entrance into Penn's Cave down 48 steps, boat about to enter into the cave, next two pixs show the interior of the cave, and exit from the cave after a journey of one mile. The YouTube video will take you on a tour similar to the tour I had.