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Río Camuy Cave Park
Directions: Located on the northwest side of the island. Coming from San Juan, take Hwy. 22 to Rt. 129 and the exit to Lars. Rt. 129 will take you directly to the caves, on the left, at km. 20.
Hours of Operation: Wednesday through Sunday and most holidays from 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. Information: Call 787/898-3100 or 898-3136.
Entry Fee: Adults $12.00, Children 4 to 12 $7.00, Less than 4 years old is free.
Difficulty: The cave floor can be slick. It's 205 steps down to the Spiral Sinkhole, not really worth the effort since you can't go inside.
One of Puerto Rico's best-kept secrets is its extensive cave system, considered some of the most important in the Western Hemisphere. The Rio Camuy is the world's third-largest subterranean river.
Yet it and the caves are relatively unknown because most visitors never venture this far into the countryside to discover them.
More than 220 caves have been discovered so far in Puerto Rico's karst country. Some are great, huge systems of passageways; others are only small openings in the earth.
The biggest and best and most easily accessible system is The Rio Camuy Cave Park near Lares, which was discovered in 1958. Operated by the Administracion de Terrenos, the extensive system of passageways has been mapped for 7 miles, although not yet all of it is open to the public. The capacity is 1,500 visitors per day.
The time to visit is in the morning, noon at the latest. Rain the afternoon sometimes ends the tours early because of concerns about rising water.
After taking a bilingual tram tour through a vegetation-filled sinkhole to the mouth of Clara Cave, you are guided past huge stalactites and stalagmites and into caves as much as 200 feet high (you can fit a 20-story building into this particular chamber).
A walking side trip is also available to the 650-foot-wide Tres Pueblos sinkhole that overlooks the Rio Camuy 400 feet below, seething through during flood periods.
Parque Las Cavernas del Río Camuy (Río Camuy Cave Park) protects a karst area along Río Camuy, about 15km south of the northern coast of Puerto Rico. Río Camuy runs north and forms the border between the municipalities Camuy and Hatillo to the north and Lares and Utuado to the south. But close to where the borders of Lares, Utuado and Hatillo meet, the river reaches an area of limestone outcrop, which is heavily karstified, and vanishes underground. After less than four kilometers it reappears on the suface. Inbetween lies the cave system of Río Camuy which is said to be the worlds second or third longest river cave.
So far 16 entrances to the system are known.
Some parts of the system were explored first by the Taino Indians, Puerto Rico's first inhabitants. Archaeologic evidence has been discovered. Later they were explored by cavers from the U.S.A.. A small part of this cave system was developed as a show cave by RUSS GURNEE, author of the Gurnee Guide to Amerikan Show Caves, and JOHN GANTER.
Actually this karst gem is famous under its general name Río Camuy. And logically the tour into the show cave is only a small part of the experience. There are two huge sinkholes, which were made accessible to tourists by wooden trails. The Tres Pueblos sinkhole is 130m deep and 215m in diameter.
Numerous caves in the area, like Cathedral Cave, Resurgencia Cave, Yuyú Cave, and Spiral Cave, are guided on spelunking tours by various tour operators.
The caves are home to an endemic species of cave fish which is totally blind.
CAVE CHEMISTRY
While it is true that some caves can be formed by the action of waves (sea caves) or even lava (lava tubes), we will deal with those caves formed by water dissolving rock or solution caves. The term dissolution refers to the chemical weathering or “dissolving” of limestone or other soluble rocks by water. Water, by itself and with enough time, could eventually carve out a small opening in rock. For a large cave system to form, however, water needs some additional help, which it gets from acids within the water. We will discuss two types of acids, carbonic and sulfuric, which are common in some types of groundwater. We will then discuss how these acids form caves.
CARBONIC ACID, SULFURIC ACID & CAVES
As rain falls through the atmosphere, and especially as it moves through the soil, the water mixes with carbon dioxide gas to create a weak solution of carbonic acid. This acid is many times more efficient than water at dissolving rock. An even more powerful acid to dissolve rock is sulfuric acid. This acid can be formed either by water coming into contact with rocks containing sulfide minerals, or by bacteria within the groundwater which break down rock as a normal process of their life cycle. But even a weak solution of carbonic acid, or the much stronger sulfuric acid, will not make a cave unless it can get underground. One way water moves deeper into the earth is through cracks or fractures which geologists call joints or faults. These fractures allow water to move further into the rock. The fractures widened over time as the acid dissolved away the soluble rock. What once were small cracks eventually widened into larger voids or cavities. Some of these cavities widened into larger rooms or caves. And some of the caves eventually connected with other caves to form caverns.
CAVE FORMATIONS
Up to this point, we’ve discussed karst, aquifers, and acids, all of which contribute to the formation of a cave or cavern. But what about the cave formations – the stalactites, stalagmites, soda straws, fried eggs, bacon, flowstone, and many other types of speleothems? These formations are created by a process which involves three steps.
First, and as explained above with carbonic acid and caves, as rain passes through the soil layers, it will mix with carbon dioxide gas. The carbon dioxide gets in the soil from decaying plant and animal remains. A weak solution of carbonic acid is formed from this mixing. As the mixture moves toward the cave, the acids in the water will dissolve minerals from the rock through which it passes. These minerals are carried within the solution and into the cave.
A great deal of a cave’s chemistry is driven by equilibrium – all things must be equal. When they aren’t equal, then that’s when things happen. In the case of water, once the solution reaches any cavity filled with air, a number of different things can happen. One thing is that the amount of carbon dioxide carried by the water will often be higher than the air within the cave. If this is the case, the water’s carbon dioxide will be released to the cave air in an effort to equilibrate between the two. When the carbon dioxide gets released, the solution must also deposit some of the dissolved minerals. This mineral deposition is what forms all of the different cave formations.
To get credit for this cache e-mail chiefsfan19 the answer to the following questions:
1) Near GZ, there is a plaque, what is the date at the bottom of the plaque?
2) Are there any fish in the river at the bottom of the cave?
3) How many entrances to the cave are known?
4) List some types of cave formations?
5) During the tour, your guide will tell you how high the river rises during the rainy season. Tell me when the rainy season is, and how high the river rises in the cavern?
6) Tell me if there is bats in the cave and where in the cave does tthe tour guide talk about them?
7) Post a picture with you at your favorite spot in the park.(optional)
Additional Hints
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