Kunga Choden - We left Crawfordsville at 6:00am in the morning, May 26, realizing that we were going on an adventure. Neither me nor my friend Adam had ever been to Bedford, Indiana. The trip to Bluespring Caverns took us two and a half hours of intense driving through unknown roads.We finally arrived at the Cavern gate at 8:30am, but it was closed. Aftering wandering around for a while the manager of the Caverns finally showed up and opened the gate for us. We were the first tourists there, but both Adam and I knew that at the start of tour we would be accompanied by more people. The Bluespring Caverns has the longest underground river in the US. We would explore only a small part of this lengthy river in a custom-made boat.

The Mystery River tour started at 9:40am.In the 1940's, the cave was actually under a farm pond.The pond disappeared overnight as the acid rain ate away the limestone on the cave's entrance.

Aftering entering the cave, the tour guide gave us some time to adjust our eyes to the cave's darkness.Once inside almost everyone in our tour group admired the aesthetic beauty of the cave.Even the gentleman who had visited the site ten years ago was ensnared by the cave's beauty.Our guide gave us a brief history of the cave at the entrance. She explained a series of extraordinary events that led to the discovery of the cave and the current ownership.We had to go down a while before we reached the boats. Once inside the boat the tour guide started explaining the cave formations.

Throughout the tour, Adam and I snapped a whole lot of pictures.We weren't allowed to touch any part of the cave except for one of the ceilings.Nature had carved this wonder flawlessly, and owners made sure that it stayed that way, but I wondered if they realize that the lint from the body of the thousands of tourist that visit the cave every year also do a considerable damage to the cave's natural habitat.

Every part of the whole cave was beautiful in its own way. As it had stormed earlier that night, the water was not very clear. We saw only a few crayfishes, couple of frogs, and two bats.She explained that after a heavy rainfall, the whole cave would flood in no time.

The tour guide let us experiment in the cave in total darkness and total silence. She told us that the inside of the cave is 40 percent darker than darkest nights on earth's surface. The tour stopped after a few yards, and there we were able to see a small entrance that led to the longer part of the cave which we could not explore at that time. This wasn't my first cave tour, but it was by far the best one.

In photos: Top right is one of the millions of stalactites in the cave. Lower left: Entrance to Bluespring Cavern. Lower right: One of the cave's residents.