When someone says “Ohio”, or “Toledo, Ohio,” I bet you don’t think “now there’s a destination city.” You might think “Holy Toledo,” or even ask, “Is Toledo a real place?” (Yes, I have been asked that) but you wouldn’t think of cool touristy-type things to do in Toledo, or Ohio in general. It’s true, there isn’t much. Toledo does happen to have a an amazing museum that even has a couple of Van Gough’s and Monet’s paintings, but as far as touristy things to do, there isn’t much in Ohio.
However, myself and the Adventurous Britt (I mentioned him in a previous post about San Francisco) did happen to come across something pretty darn cool and very touristy in an Ohio sort of way. About 100 miles south of Toledo, in Salem, Ohio, there is a deep network of the prettiest caverns in the United States. At least that is how the tour guide presented them to us. This is not the Salem where the witch trials occurred, just in case anyone was wondering. That would be an altogether different tourist experience.
I have to admit, they really are awesomely and even hauntingly beautiful. Just over 1.6 kilometers in length and about 30 meters under the earth, these deep places are home to little brown myotis bats and who knows what other creatures human science isn’t sophisticated enough to identify yet.
Originally discovered in 1897 by a 17 year 
old farm boy working the fields, the caves were mostly filled with sand. Apparently this was a good thing, because even though there was only enough room to crawl, people did. Thousands of them came to see this incredible dark and mysterious place. They broke off stalagmites and stalactites that had taken thousands of years to grow. They wrote the names of their sweethearts on the walls and pretty much trashed an entire end of the caverns for future growth.
old farm boy working the fields, the caves were mostly filled with sand. Apparently this was a good thing, because even though there was only enough room to crawl, people did. Thousands of them came to see this incredible dark and mysterious place. They broke off stalagmites and stalactites that had taken thousands of years to grow. They wrote the names of their sweethearts on the walls and pretty much trashed an entire end of the caverns for future growth.
Thankfully, in 1922 the site was sold to a couple named Allen and Ira Smith, who had a little more respect for these precious dark places. They had the place excavated and preserved the remaining cavern crystal forests. Consequently, over 90% of the stalagmite and stalactite formations are still active today.
It is believed that the system was originally created as a result of the ice age. Scientists believe it was an aquifer that was home to a large underground river. Eventually it filled up with sand, which is lucky for us or it might have been destroyed back in the 1800s before people realized they were destroying the natural wonder.
It is still pretty damp down there, especially in winter. However, there are places where the water runs even in summer, but the temperature is a comfortable 12 degrees Celsius all year round. My dear friend the Adventurous Britt and I enjoyed the historical tour and didn’t even mind the occasional bat fitting around us. We even spent a good bit of time in the gift store, where (to my horror) he bought some non-Canadian maple syrup.
Note to anyone traveling from the North, there are few good restaurants other than chains like MacDonald’s and Wendy’s, and if you are travelling on a Sunday, as we were, not much else is open. Other than the lack of decent food, it was a very adventurous day and I highly recommend anyone who is out this way to make the journey. Unless you have an aversion to bats and dark caves. Hmmm, bat cave anyone?
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