Inside there are varying degrees of access, with some level and some uneven walkways, narrow passageways, stairs, and ramps. Visitors with questions about access should check with cave operators or group tour planners before entering a cave. Most of the cave operators provide tour guides, who are trained to answer questions about the underground, and are instructed in safety precautions as well. Randy Langhover, who owns and operates Cosmic Cavern near Berryville, has conducted more than 9,000 tours in the 22 years since he came to the cave. He emphasizes the fragility of the cave as he walks through the lighted passageways.
Walls are relatively smooth at the cave entrance, which is inside the visitors center.
He shows an area where the rock is smooth as glass. But deeper into the cave, visitors begin to see the spaghetti-like strands of crystals, the soda straw and popcorn formations, the flowstone that look like frozen waterfalls. Stalactites grow, usually in a cone shape, from the ceiling, while stalagmites push up from the cave floor. Strategic illumination throws light and shadow onto the many surfaces, revealing a myriad of colors. Formations take strange shapes for human visitors, looking like dozens of corkscrews, cabbage heads, an old-world Santa Claus, a white rat climbing an onyx drapery, a huge heart, fern fronds and other fantasies.