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. Each cave is different, says Jewell Wallace, who owns and operates War Eagle Cavern on Scenic Hwy. 12 at Rogers. At War Eagle, which is on Beaver Lake, the entrance is outside. Visitors walk down the mountainside, turn a corner and find the wide cave entrance.