May 12, 2009, 2:34 pm
Last year was a trying time for Sequoia National Park's Crystal Cave as separate incidents kept shutting it down during the tourist season: Live dynamite from the 1930s was discovered, an outdated generatorpowering the caves lighting kept breaking, a bear ripped apart a stinging insect nest on the trail and fires in the mountains closed it six weeks early.
But some of these challenges have proved to be a boon for this year's visitors. The fire burned shrub bush off the trail, giving it a facelift, said Carey Goldstein, the cave's manager.
"Now when you're walking down the trail, you're in a totally different place," he said.
This makes it easier for the more exploratory visitors to find new caves, which Goldstein said is defined as something "a human being can fit in and get to a place where it's completely dark." He has found 30 such caves in the last 10 months, all of which are usually gated off to prevent vandalism and to protect whatever newly discovered species may be living inside.
