Lava Tubes

WOW. It was snowing on the way to uni today!!! The snowflakes were so pretty when looking at them really closely. Just like in my childhood storybooks =) Now, I continue the journey...

Upon arrival at Flagstaff we went to Jen's apartment and met her flatmate, Erin. Dropped our stuff off and rugged up for the hike into the Lava Tubes. Half hour drive across rugged roads (thankfullly Jen has a 4WD), parked car, found the trail (pretty much unmarked) in the darkness, and then found the mouth of the cave. A big hole in the ground that you walk down into and then climb down big rocks to get all the way in. Had to sign ourselves into a book in case search parties came looking for us (pictured)... This got us a bit worried (picture)... The temperature at the entrance to the cave dropped about 10 degrees but gradually warmed up inside.














From our understanding, the lava tubes were formed 700 000 odd years ago when there was a volcanic eruption and the lava made its way down the mountain. The lava must have found a certain kind of rock that it could melt/permeate through and go down into the ground. Thus, long caves formed by lava = lava tube =) Hope that's right. Jenny Lotz might be able to explain better. I got a pamphlet but don't have it with me. The roof got pretty small in some places where we needed to crouch to get through. Note to self: looking at feet is good so as to prevent tripping over rocks and causing serious injury, but ensure it is not to the detriment of your head hitting the roof of the cave because you're not watching where you're going... I was third in line and neither Jen or Danny warned me that the roof suddenly got lower... After an hour or so we reached the end, which we actually thought was half way cos the sign outside told us there was a 'tight spot' half way... so we get to the end where there is a small crevice, only just big enough to wriggle through... So Danny did it... and then concluded that yes, this definitely was the end...
That's the crevice just behind me.. Don't actually know how Danny got himself in there... but it was pretty funny to watch! On our way home we visited a friend of Erin's who just bought two new puppies. They were so cute and really didn't like being apart from each other - even just to hold them. I thought I'd post a pic cos they were SOO cute!

After this, although most Americans don't like the place, we decided we needed to have a Taco Bell experience... Noone told me what I'd ordered was probably the HOTTEST option.... My mouth was on fire!...