Marvel Cave - Rooms and Passages

Rooms and Passages

• The Cathedral Room is one of the largest cave entrance rooms found in North America. The room measures 204 feet (62 m) high, 225 feet (69 m) wide, and 411 feet (125 m) feet long. Entrance to the cave is made through a sink hole which is 94’ deep. Two large openings are at the bottom of the sink. Rocks, trees, dirt and animals falling through the sinkhole and falling boulders from the ceiling throughout the centuries has left a debris pile measuring 124 feet (38 m) tall. This pile is sometimes referred to as the Underground Mountain. On July 7, 1963 an underground altitude record was set by Don Piccard by flying a hot air balloon around the massive room. Later, in 1994 five hot air balloons were flown simultaneously in the Cathedral Room in celebration of the 100th year anniversary of giving cave tours.
• The Mammoth Room is where the majority of the bats choose to hibernate. In 1869 Spanish style ladders, small trees with notches carved in them, were found in the Mammoth Room by Henry Taylor Blow, one of the first known explorers of the cave.
• The Dungeon is a passage located next to the Cathedral Room. The entrance can be made through a small crevice located 80 feet (24 m) below the sinkhole entrance. Blood like stains cover the walls due to the abundance of iron oxide, which led some early cave guides to claim the Dungeon Passage a torture place of the Spanish Explorers. The passage has an entrance through the Mammoth Room as well.
• The Lakes Passage is past the Mammoth Room and contains two lakes named Genevieve and Miriam, after the daughters of William Lynch. Divers have explored the lakes and have found several under water passages. The deepest they went was around 110 feet (34 m). The two lakes are long and were once thought to be a river, known as No-Name River. Genevieve later led an expedition of the passage and discovered that there was an end to the water filled passages. Her party found that the cave continued up hill. The passage has been explored, but not entirely. The last room explorers have discovered is a tall terminal dome pit that contains two small water falls that makes climbing to the top very difficult. Many have tried and failed.
• The Spring Room A small crevice behind a tall column known as the Sentinel lies the Spring Room. The room is covered in orange calcite and contains several waterfalls that looks and sounds like rain fall. Legends have spread about the water being magical, possibly the Fountain of Youth.
• Serpentine Passage connects the Cathedral Room and the Egyptian Room. The route displays perfectly the way that water used to flow through the cave passages.
• Egyptian Room / Shoe Room Genevieve and Miriam Lynch had a fondness for the study of Egypt and this flat smooth desert like room reminded them of a pyramid. Within the rocks of the room they saw King Tutankhamen’s Sarcophagus, The Sphinx’s Nose, Arrow Head Entry, and Cleopatra’s Sandal. The ceiling is shaped like a large sandal or shoe, leading some to call it the Shoe Room. The flat smooth ceiling was once mistaken for Marble.
• The Gulf of Doom is located under the “heel” of the shoe print ceiling. The great pit was once thought to be bottomless. Rocks would be thrown into the darkness, but no sound would ever resonate. The superstitious thought it was a gateway to the underworld, when the true reason was simple: large amounts of clay and bat guano were covering the bottom of the gulf’s floor over 100’ below.
• Cloud Room or Cloud Land has a rough porous ceiling. The ceiling is made of dolomite and looks like low hanging clouds.
• Tall Man's Headache / Fat Man's Misery is a passage with a low ceiling and narrow sides, the smallest passage in the guided tour. It is about 4 feet (1.2 m) 7 inches (18 cm) tall, and 7 feet (2.1 m) long.
• The Harold Bell Wright Passage is before the Waterfall Room during fall and winter tours. Harold Bell Wright, the author of The Shepherd of the Hills, was friends of the Lynches, and stayed in the cave for days at a time. There is a cabin located in the passage where Harold Bell Wright stayed. Some people believe that he wrote parts of his book in the cave. Inside the cabin he painted a picture of his book's character, Maggie. The Cabin that is there now is a replica, not the original, although it uses some of the same wood.
• The Waterfall Room is the lowest room on the tour, 505 feet (154 m) below the surface. The source of the water is from the underground stream named The Lost River. This room can flood to the ceiling during times of rain.
• The Mud Passage is located between the Waterfall Room and the Mystic Pool Room, named for the mud in the passage during early tours, which has since been cleared out.
• The Mystic River Passage is a small water filled passage that eventually opens up to the second largest room in the cave. The room is called the T Room and is in the shape of the letter T. The cave extends beyond the T Room, but the passage becomes much smaller and narrower than before. To enter the passage one must lie on their back and keep their face above the water. The passage is extremely tight and filled with mud and water causing many to call it the “Sewer Pipe.” The end of the passage has not been reached.
• The Mystic Pool Room is the room in which the Mystic River Passage is located.
• The Elves Chamber is the top of the terminal dome pit extending upwards from the Mystic Pool Room. Numerous calcite formations can be seen in this area of the cave. The ceiling is filled with long stalactites and covered in helictites. The entrance to the Cable Train Tunnel is located in the Elves Chamber making it the last room on the tourist trail of Marvel Cave.