Our travels are taking us someplace ancient and awesome. And deep (literally) into the Blue Ridge Mountains. Welcome to Linville Caverns.

Located in Marion, North Carolina beneath Humpback Mountain lies this intricate and active limestone cavern. All of this was carved by water that still flows through the caverns today. And it’s this water that led to the caverns’ discovery.

It was in 1822 that fishermen noticed trout mysteriously swimming into and out of the mountain. Well, curiosity took hold and led to them scrambling through a hole and stumbling upon this system of caverns – millions of years in the making.

Today your half hour tour takes you through two of the three levels of Linville Caverns – with the lowest level completely submerged in water. As you traverse the beautifully lit pathways you might experience a tiny drip of water finding its way onto your person. If you do, you just got the “kiss of the cave” considered to be good luck. This dripping mineral-rich water is what forms the stalactites and stalagmites you see here.

The formations here are gorgeous. But don’t touch! It takes mother nature about 125 years to form one cubic inch of this beautiful cavern.

And there is so much to take in like this breathtaking beauty. This Flowstone deposit resembles a frozen waterfall and is known as Frozen Niagara.

Something that is really remarkable in this land devoid of light are the wide-ranging colors to see here. There is orange from iron oxide. Light blue from cobalt. Darker blue from zinc. And trace amounts of green from copper deposits, moss, and algae.

When you finish your tour, a beautiful park awaits right next to the river. So, pack that Ingles picnic and soak in the “above ground” beauty of Linville Caverns.