My friend, Nate, was invited as a cave specialist on a recent mapping and research expedition in the Grand Canyon exploring a cave system that few humans have ever been lucky enough to enter.
Among the wonders they encountered after free rappelling into (and jumaring out of) the entrance each day, were perfectly preserved bats in excess of 50,000 years old and fantasies of gypsum spun in the cool, still air of the cave.
Mummified ancient foxes and other vertebrates attest to the unique role of caves as stable sanctuaries apart from, but connected to, the dynamic and often volatile exterior world.
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