Summer Bucket List: Indian Echo Caverns

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

the entrance to the caves!

This past Saturday we headed out to Indian Echo Caverns in Middletown, PA.  It's a beautiful place for people of all ages.  You can take a tour of their huge caverns, check out a small petting zoo, pan for gold and gems, and shop in their huge gift shop.
me holding my ticket


When we arrived, the first thing we did was take a tour of the caverns.  It was beautiful inside.  We had to go down a huge flight of stairs to start though.  I mean like 100 steps!!  The caverns at certain points are 100 feet under the ground!  Our guide instructed us not to touch any of the rocks or walls because the oils from our skin can make the rocks stop growing!!!


Me in the caves





The rock formations inside were beautiful!  It was a nice balmy 50 some degree temperature and it was very damp and drippy but not so much so that it ruined our time.  I actually enjoyed it.  There was even a little underwater pond! 

The guide explained what some of the formations look like, which had all the kids laughing.


Towards the end there was a little area that a man used to live in.  He lived there until he died.  She even showed us where he slept.  I was amazed that someone honestly lived in a cave.  I guess he ran away from some life problems he had and then when he didn't show up to the farm he worked at one day, they went looking for him!  He slept high up on this rock ledge, and it's a wonder he never fell off!




After the tour, which was about 45 minutes, we headed up to pan for gold and gemstones.  It was called Gem Mill Junction and basically, you purchase a bag of sand of your choice.  Some have gem stones in them, some have fossills, and some have a mix of both.  You pick up a panning box and head to the water area.  It was so fun that me and my boyfriend couldn't stop smiling and chuckling!

Honestly, I think I saved money because if I would have purchased rocks from the gift shop it would have been way more expensive.  I dumped sand in mine and began to sift and immediately saw some gem stones.



I got some really cool stones! And we even had brochures to explain to us what each stone was.  Johnny had a blast doing his as well!!

After we placed our findings in our baggies, we headed to the petting zoo because you know I can't pass up the opportunity to see an animal!  There were goats, sheep, and roosters and chickens! They were pretty lazy probably because all they do is eat.  But we did get some cool pictures.



Overall, I had a blast and for the price, it was great! There's even a playground for kids and a huge area to picnic at, which is where we ate our hotdogs after our cavern tour! If you are ever in the central PA area I highly recommend you check it out!

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