腾龙洞 – Teng Long Dong

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 in: News, Travel

Get your mind out of the gutter, Dong means CAVE.

Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve always enjoyed spelunking. Caves are more than just holes in the ground, they’re a gateway to a whole other world lurking just below the surface. You don’t have to go too deep to discover it. Round a corner and you’re in a cavern that never sees natural light, a whole new ecosystem just out of the sun’s reach. Turn off your flashlight and let your eyes adjust to the darkness and quiet, and when you turn it back on, you’re rewarded with little details and rock formations that slipped by unnoticed before. Even today, the Lava Beds National Monument is a favorite camping destination for my weird family. A desolate desert to the uninitiated, the Lava Beds is home to an amazing variety of wildlife and a spectacular volcanic cave system, not to mention the area’s rich human history. Some of the caves there are a pretty cozy squeeze, being solidified lava tubes. Most of the larger tubes have collapsed or partially collapsed into craters filled with massive chunks of basalt, breaking up the spelunking with some really fun scrambles. There are only a handful of caves in the National Monument I haven’t yet visited, but I intend to see them all.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZTOYAlrBpQ

Outside of the Lava Beds, the most impressive cave I’ve been to was the Moaning Caverns near Angel’s Camp, CA. I went with my friend Hans on our way to Yosemite, and we rappelled 60-90ft down into the massive limestone cavern. We also got to explore the cave system below the main chamber, although we didn’t get to descend to the bottom-most chamber where rich patrons used to ice skate in the 1920’s; the dirt tracked in by visitors has severely damaged the cave so it’s since been closed.

But neither the Lava Beds nor Moaning Caverns has anything that compares in sheer size to Teng Long Dong, the Soaring Dragon Cave, near Enshi in Hubei province.

The cave is about a 2 hour drive from Enshi in the opposite direction of the valley we visited the day before, but it is run by the same company. Despite this fact, they haven’t yet figured out a good scheme for actually transporting people TO the cave, so we had to hire a cab to drive us in. Our driver, Ms. Liu, told us about her numerous American pen pals, including the one who offered her a large sum of money to come visit him in LA; she was waiting for her son to graduate from High School first. I discovered a new motivation to learn Chinese: cab drivers can provide some pretty interesting conversation if you’re able to keep up with them.

When we went to the valley the day before, we bought tickets to both places for a discount, but when we arrived, they said I had purchased two tickets to the valley, and that I’ll have to buy a ticket to the cave at full price. Balking at the bullshit, I lost my temper a little bit because I had deliberately pointed at the combo ticket and paid the exact amount for it. At first they tried to console me by saying I could go BACK to the valley to use my ticket again, even though we were leaving Enshi the following morning. Ben talked some sense into them and they let me use my second ticket.

Across a nice bridge and along a well-groomed path, the cave wasn’t more than half a kilometer from where we parked. We rounded a corner and there loomed a massive gash in the earth. Just the entrance to this cave could fit the entire moaning cavern into it. I looked down at my ticket, and see a photo of the cave with a helicopter flying into it. Words don’t even begin to describe this thing.

Just before the corner rounded into the darkness, a fleet of shuttle carts came into view. The cavern runs back so far they actually have a shuttle service inside the cave. Grandpa almost overdid it the day before, so we took the ride and arrived five minutes later at the indoor arena they had built for their twice-daily singing/dancing/laser show. We caught the very end of the show, enough to know there wasn’t much point in sticking around for the next one. Grandpa opted to head back to the entrance, but Jim, Ben and I decided to walk the well-lit mile-long path deeper into the cave. There were several fascinating rock formations along the path, and the soaring ceilings never stooped very low. I realized just how developed the cave was when I walked by a group of tourists chatting away on their cell phones. We reached the deepest developed part of the cave, and Ben told me that this cave actually went on for another 40 miles, and connected with the valley we were at the other day. I peered longingly into the darkness, imagining what an adventure it would be to explore the entire length. I signed as I turned back towards the halogen and tungsten lamps and chattering tourists. Some other time, maybe.

We got back to the entrance to meet up with Grandpa, and they told me to check around the corner. I walked out of the cave and down a little path. The faint whisper of moving water faded into a roaring waterfall pouring itself into the mouth of a second cave alongside the first. I’ll let the video I took speak for itself. That is… when I finally get to post it! Thanks China.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnrdmj97kkU

Quite an amazing site, I wondered if all our destinations would be like this.

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