crystalhunting
Tallahastezzi Kaffirs!!!
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2001
- Posts
- 2,578
Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico
I had never been that deep in the earth before. The smell was
extraordinary.... very old dirt that was baking in 100 to 150 degrees
of heat and 100% humidity. I will never forget that smell. I wondered
if it might smell the same as if you were standing over a sarcophagus
and the lid had been removed to view the mummy inside buried in caves.
Nothing in my life had prepared me for this kind of experience.
Leela's Story:
Three years ago in 1998, I traveled to Plumas County in Northern
California in search of a mass quantity of crystals, quartz crystals.
Earlier that year, I had met a madman, a decorated Vietnam Vet, who used
to live in the gold country. He had shown me some of the buried crystals
he had dug up on top of a mountain and brought back to the Bay area. I
begged him to let me caravan to Plumas County with him to see the source
of these beautiful chunks of crystals.
High on top of a mountain, overlooking the Feather River stood a
majestic oak tree. The foliage in the area hadn’t been through a fire in
over 50 years. Green and lush were the mountainsides. We walked around
the steep rocky side of Crystal Mountain and he pointed to a hole under
the oak tree. “There it is! That is where we go in!”. Clothed in
overalls and digging tools, we crawled into this black hole underneath
the tree and while lying on my back, started digging these growing
crystals right out of the rock. The ceiling of the hole was only inches
from my face. I thought I would blackout because of the claustrophobic
feeling
and the surrounding darkness. When we brought the crystals out into the
sunlight, they were still damp with a dark luminescence that faded
within minutes of being out of their environment. As beautiful as they
were, I never thought I would be in a black hole again.
Giant crystals are found in caves 1,300 feet below the earth’s surface
in spring of 2000.
This is how my extraordinary trip to Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico begins.
The story starts to take shape while I was in Agua Prieta, Mexico on
October 20, of 2000. A friend of mine and one of the world’s greatest
canyon expeditioners shows up in the grand lobby of the Gadsden Hotel at
the U.S. border town of Douglas, Arizona and we once again greet each
other after 3-1/2 years. He asks me to step outside and come to his
van... He has some exciting news and wants to show me. He pulls out six
color photos of the largest crystals ever been discovered by man. What I
was looking at resembled what Superman’s home looked like on a far away
planet. Massive heavy crystal structures like huge beams going every
which way and wide enough and large enough to walk on as planks. I was
so excited I started shouting! I couldn't contain myself. I have never
seen anything like it and I have been very much interested in crystals
for a long time.
Rick Fisher said he had little time to visit. He was on his way to the
State of Chihuahua, Mexico, with an escorted group of Mexican government
officials to be the first American to photograph these unheard of giant
crystals. Knowing the
extraordinary character of this guy, I was sure that what he was up to
was a spectacular find that no one on earth knew about except for the
people at the Penoles Mine and a few people at the Dept. of Tourism in
Chihuahua. A world class canyoneer, he discovered the deepest canyon on
earth in Tibet in 1996. As usual, he was in a hurry to get to Mexico and
made me promise to return the photos to him as soon as possible.
Meanwhile I get settled in Sedona, Arizona, and on January 19th, 2001, I
called Rick to inform him I was reluctantly returning his earliest
photos of the crystal caves. He started laughing and said, “You have
called in the nick of time. I am leaving tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m.
for Chihuahua City on another government expedition to the mines to
explore the two new caves of crystals only discovered in April of 2000.
There is a space available for you if you want to come; however, in
addition to exploration, I am photographing the crystals for a clothing
magazine somewhat similar to the type as Patagonia. The catalog offers
clothing for extreme climate conditions. There are sidebars on several
pages of the catalog depicting stories of people doing amazing things
while wearing the manufacturer’s clothing. It is called Rail Riders.
Have you heard of it?”, he asked.
“Oh yes, I have heard of it, This is a special kind of clothing that is
used in tropical temperatures where the humidity and heat are very high.
Normal clothing such as cotton rots of the body in a very short time at
this climate. This fabric dries in a matter of minutes, even in extreme
humidity”, I said.
“That’s right, and where we are going is a perfect example of that type
of climate.” “In these extraordinary crystal caves, there are faults
that are heated by the magma flows beneath the caves and have heated the
natural water table. This is what has helped to grow the crystals to
such gigantic proportions. The caves are at 100% percent humidity, with
the smaller cave (The Cave of Dreams) at about 110 degrees in
temperature and the Cave of the Giants at about 150 degrees. It is a
perfect condition to experience the durability of the clothing.”
“Are you still interested?” Rick asked. I’m starting to get this queasy
feeling in my stomach. “Umm, yes.” I said, as I swallowed a hard lump in
my throat.
“What I want to demonstrate and photograph on this expedition is a more
feminine quality since mostly I have only miners or engineers with big
hairy armpits in all my photos.” “There is no natural light of course,
just the small light on top of a miner’s helmet.” I’m thinking, that’s
just great. I told him I would consider it and call back later.
It took several hours for all of this to sink in. I can’t believe it,
but I was actually thinking of not going because of other commitments in
Sedona. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was probably going to be
the first American woman in these newly discovered caves. That is if I
had enough courage to overcome my fear of dark scary places beneath the
earth. Well that didn’t take long to make a decision. The next thing I
knew, my bags were packed and I drove off to Tucson to meet Richard that
Sunday night. At least I wouldn’t be cold in the caves, and it was
winter. A nice change, I thought while I drove south.
The next morning we drove from 6:00 a.m. to 9:30 at night to arrive at
the Palace of the Sun hotel in downtown Chihuahua City, complements of
the state government. What an interesting drive that was. Richard and I
discussed everything possible about many extraordinary journeys he had
taken all over the world including his incredible discovery of the
deepest canyon in the world in Tibet. While we traveled the highways I
was preparing myself psychologically for what was going to happen the
next day. I was scared. That night I dreamed of a female white owl
leading our expedition group to the caves.
It was mid afternoon on Tuesday, January 23rd, before we could gain
access to the mines and the two selenite crystal caves through the
officials at the Penoles Mine Group.We met up with Carlos Lazcano, top
cave Expeditioner of Mexico, and Sonia
Morales from the State Department and were greeted by the manager of the
mine and Chief of Security, Enrique Alejandro. We were equipped with
miners helmets and belts. Even though it was chilly on the surface, I
wore the Rail Riders marine blue shirt and shorts and a pair of tennis
shoes into the mine because were headed toward the humidity and the
heat. We jumped into security’s heavy-duty pickup truck and slowly made
our way down one thousand and three hundred feet. I have never driven
down into the earth before. The heat started to increase and I sensed
the darkness surround us. I thought this was similar to
dreaming. I closed my eyes and let the darkness envelop me.
About an hour later, there we stood at a bulldozed hole left by the
mineworkers to cover up the smaller cave. Later named “the Cave of
Dreams” by Rick Fisher. We scrambled over the dirt and broken selenite
crystals that lay all over the earth up to a small wooden ladder. I
climbed up and over right onto jagged and pointed growing giant selenite
crystals that Carlos Lazcano calls the “Voca de Tiburon” (shark’s mouth)
and was hit by a blast of humid heat. That smell! It filled my nostrils.
Ancient dirt
baking in an oven. I crawled slowly up into this dark cave with only a
miner's light, holding on to pointed tips of crystals. I couldn’t
believe what I was seeing.
The enormous size of crystals and intense heat was overwhelming. A
gigantic waterfall of selenite crystal 20 feet high stood before me,
onto which I climbed up. When I reached the top of the cyrstalfall, the
heat was even more intense. My heart was beating so fast I thought I
would not make it. It took all that I had not to panic. Behind the
crystal waterfall were even huger jagged selenite crystals that led to
the back of the cave. It is estimated that the size of this smaller cave
is around 2,000 feet. We took as many photos as we could. I was becoming
extremely nervous. Feeling dizzy, I was afraid I would fall down and
really injure myself in the process. I thought Rick underestimated the
heat. It felt like 110 degrees in there.
Attempting to solve the humidity affecting the cameras was extremely
difficult but Rick figured it out. A professional photographer with
credits from all over the world, he solved the problem. Clear filters
over the lenses and allowing the cameras to adjust to the extreme heat
held the answer. No computerized cameras could do the job, only the
manual ones.
We stumbled our way out of there and back into the tunnels of the main
mine where the air was slightly cooler. We drank huge amounts of
Gatorade and other liquids and were completely drenched in sweat and
humidity. I felt like I had been hit by a tsunami of energy. We went
back into the smaller cave, the Cave of Dreams, a couple of more times.
I was completely exhausted but we still had to prepare to ourselves to
enter the Cave of Giants to film the really big selenite crystals. It
was then that I started to be concerned I wouldn’t be able to do the job
or to get a peek of the giants. I prayed for strength and courage.
Enrique, Chief of Security, then drove us towards the mining shaft that
brings cool air from the surface down into the Naica mine. Mexicans have
mined here for over two hundred years. Lead, silver and zinc are the
main properties but there is a myriad of other minerals as well. They
discovered the crystals while searching for a main vein of minerals.
Once we recovered and the sweat had mostly dried on our skin, we drove
about five more minutes down the tunnel to a completely sealed concrete
wall with a rusted iron door and a heavy lock. This cave, The Cave of
the Giants and the Cave of Dreams are connected through an adjoining
wall.
Some of the mineworkers are attempting to remove these gigantic crystals
and sell them on the black market in Mexico, but the weight and enormity
of the crystals makes that impossible and dangerous to attempt. One man
had already died in the Cave of Giants by using archaic means to move
the crystals out of there. He didn’t have enough air and lost
consciousness. When they finally found him, he was cooked to death.
Management decided to increase security.When Enrique, opened the sacred
door, a blast of humid, hot air hit our faces and we had not even
approached what was then named “The Eye of the Queen”. This
is where the miners made the first opening into the crystal wall.
Another twenty feet and up three steps we crawled into a hole that
resembled a huge eye set in selenite crystals. The heat was completely
oppressive. It was 150 degrees in there and 100 percent humidity. But
what I saw was unbelievable. Stepping inside a giant geode, there were
massive structures, 30 to 50 feet tall of solid selenite crystals. They
criss-crossed from every direction. It was similar to Superman’s
Fortress of Solitude. They felt as solid as steel and as alive as living
tree trunks. Nothing in my reality had prepared me for such a place. We
attempted to cover as much as possible but the cave was deeply recessed
and dark. I went back three more times into this Cave of Giants because
a human could not survive in there for more than five or six minutes at
a time. We wanted to explore as much of the room as we could in what
little time that we had.
We also shot as many photographs as possible. I stumbled and crawled all
over this 4,000-foot room of treasure. That is when I found the dead
man’s rope and crow bar that he used in his attempt to steal one of the
giants. When we could no longer take the heat, we stumbled out of there
blinded by the sweat in our eyes, completely drenched and exhausted.
Speechless and with deep gratitude there were no injuries to any of us,
I sat in silence as we drove and worked our way slowly out of the
tunnels back to the surface. We made it out of there safely and that was
the first moment I could relax. This was indeed one on the most glorious
experiences of my life and also one of the hardest. How I was chosen for
this assignment, I do not know. I am honored to be the first American
woman to enter these rare crystal caves. I have since learned that the
Penoles Mine Group had allowed no women to enter the mining operations
because of superstition. To be the first woman to enter seems
incredible.
No other selenite giants have been discovered on the earth so far. Now,
I will do everything I can to ensure these crystals are not taken out of
the earth. The Creator, for a reason, made these beautiful earth
keepers. I don’t believe anything just happens without a purpose. Even
the growth of crystals has a purpose and/or reason.
We took some pretty amazing slides/photos and I have within my
possession rare photographs of me standing on the crystals in both
caves. This was a private government expedition for the purposes of
scientific research. The public will not be allowed for some time, if at
all. Who could tolerate that sort of heat?
If you are interested in having a set of these rare photos, you can
order below. Just write to me at my e-mail address. This money would
continue to further my ability to send this story out to others and
create a website to post this information about these rare crystals. We
have prepared a slide presentation as well and would be interested in
booking an evening where there
is interest.
Crystal Photo: http://members.aol.com/giantcrystals/the.htm
compliments of CH
I had never been that deep in the earth before. The smell was
extraordinary.... very old dirt that was baking in 100 to 150 degrees
of heat and 100% humidity. I will never forget that smell. I wondered
if it might smell the same as if you were standing over a sarcophagus
and the lid had been removed to view the mummy inside buried in caves.
Nothing in my life had prepared me for this kind of experience.
Leela's Story:
Three years ago in 1998, I traveled to Plumas County in Northern
California in search of a mass quantity of crystals, quartz crystals.
Earlier that year, I had met a madman, a decorated Vietnam Vet, who used
to live in the gold country. He had shown me some of the buried crystals
he had dug up on top of a mountain and brought back to the Bay area. I
begged him to let me caravan to Plumas County with him to see the source
of these beautiful chunks of crystals.
High on top of a mountain, overlooking the Feather River stood a
majestic oak tree. The foliage in the area hadn’t been through a fire in
over 50 years. Green and lush were the mountainsides. We walked around
the steep rocky side of Crystal Mountain and he pointed to a hole under
the oak tree. “There it is! That is where we go in!”. Clothed in
overalls and digging tools, we crawled into this black hole underneath
the tree and while lying on my back, started digging these growing
crystals right out of the rock. The ceiling of the hole was only inches
from my face. I thought I would blackout because of the claustrophobic
feeling
and the surrounding darkness. When we brought the crystals out into the
sunlight, they were still damp with a dark luminescence that faded
within minutes of being out of their environment. As beautiful as they
were, I never thought I would be in a black hole again.
Giant crystals are found in caves 1,300 feet below the earth’s surface
in spring of 2000.
This is how my extraordinary trip to Naica, Chihuahua, Mexico begins.
The story starts to take shape while I was in Agua Prieta, Mexico on
October 20, of 2000. A friend of mine and one of the world’s greatest
canyon expeditioners shows up in the grand lobby of the Gadsden Hotel at
the U.S. border town of Douglas, Arizona and we once again greet each
other after 3-1/2 years. He asks me to step outside and come to his
van... He has some exciting news and wants to show me. He pulls out six
color photos of the largest crystals ever been discovered by man. What I
was looking at resembled what Superman’s home looked like on a far away
planet. Massive heavy crystal structures like huge beams going every
which way and wide enough and large enough to walk on as planks. I was
so excited I started shouting! I couldn't contain myself. I have never
seen anything like it and I have been very much interested in crystals
for a long time.
Rick Fisher said he had little time to visit. He was on his way to the
State of Chihuahua, Mexico, with an escorted group of Mexican government
officials to be the first American to photograph these unheard of giant
crystals. Knowing the
extraordinary character of this guy, I was sure that what he was up to
was a spectacular find that no one on earth knew about except for the
people at the Penoles Mine and a few people at the Dept. of Tourism in
Chihuahua. A world class canyoneer, he discovered the deepest canyon on
earth in Tibet in 1996. As usual, he was in a hurry to get to Mexico and
made me promise to return the photos to him as soon as possible.
Meanwhile I get settled in Sedona, Arizona, and on January 19th, 2001, I
called Rick to inform him I was reluctantly returning his earliest
photos of the crystal caves. He started laughing and said, “You have
called in the nick of time. I am leaving tomorrow morning at 6:00 a.m.
for Chihuahua City on another government expedition to the mines to
explore the two new caves of crystals only discovered in April of 2000.
There is a space available for you if you want to come; however, in
addition to exploration, I am photographing the crystals for a clothing
magazine somewhat similar to the type as Patagonia. The catalog offers
clothing for extreme climate conditions. There are sidebars on several
pages of the catalog depicting stories of people doing amazing things
while wearing the manufacturer’s clothing. It is called Rail Riders.
Have you heard of it?”, he asked.
“Oh yes, I have heard of it, This is a special kind of clothing that is
used in tropical temperatures where the humidity and heat are very high.
Normal clothing such as cotton rots of the body in a very short time at
this climate. This fabric dries in a matter of minutes, even in extreme
humidity”, I said.
“That’s right, and where we are going is a perfect example of that type
of climate.” “In these extraordinary crystal caves, there are faults
that are heated by the magma flows beneath the caves and have heated the
natural water table. This is what has helped to grow the crystals to
such gigantic proportions. The caves are at 100% percent humidity, with
the smaller cave (The Cave of Dreams) at about 110 degrees in
temperature and the Cave of the Giants at about 150 degrees. It is a
perfect condition to experience the durability of the clothing.”
“Are you still interested?” Rick asked. I’m starting to get this queasy
feeling in my stomach. “Umm, yes.” I said, as I swallowed a hard lump in
my throat.
“What I want to demonstrate and photograph on this expedition is a more
feminine quality since mostly I have only miners or engineers with big
hairy armpits in all my photos.” “There is no natural light of course,
just the small light on top of a miner’s helmet.” I’m thinking, that’s
just great. I told him I would consider it and call back later.
It took several hours for all of this to sink in. I can’t believe it,
but I was actually thinking of not going because of other commitments in
Sedona. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was probably going to be
the first American woman in these newly discovered caves. That is if I
had enough courage to overcome my fear of dark scary places beneath the
earth. Well that didn’t take long to make a decision. The next thing I
knew, my bags were packed and I drove off to Tucson to meet Richard that
Sunday night. At least I wouldn’t be cold in the caves, and it was
winter. A nice change, I thought while I drove south.
The next morning we drove from 6:00 a.m. to 9:30 at night to arrive at
the Palace of the Sun hotel in downtown Chihuahua City, complements of
the state government. What an interesting drive that was. Richard and I
discussed everything possible about many extraordinary journeys he had
taken all over the world including his incredible discovery of the
deepest canyon in the world in Tibet. While we traveled the highways I
was preparing myself psychologically for what was going to happen the
next day. I was scared. That night I dreamed of a female white owl
leading our expedition group to the caves.
It was mid afternoon on Tuesday, January 23rd, before we could gain
access to the mines and the two selenite crystal caves through the
officials at the Penoles Mine Group.We met up with Carlos Lazcano, top
cave Expeditioner of Mexico, and Sonia
Morales from the State Department and were greeted by the manager of the
mine and Chief of Security, Enrique Alejandro. We were equipped with
miners helmets and belts. Even though it was chilly on the surface, I
wore the Rail Riders marine blue shirt and shorts and a pair of tennis
shoes into the mine because were headed toward the humidity and the
heat. We jumped into security’s heavy-duty pickup truck and slowly made
our way down one thousand and three hundred feet. I have never driven
down into the earth before. The heat started to increase and I sensed
the darkness surround us. I thought this was similar to
dreaming. I closed my eyes and let the darkness envelop me.
About an hour later, there we stood at a bulldozed hole left by the
mineworkers to cover up the smaller cave. Later named “the Cave of
Dreams” by Rick Fisher. We scrambled over the dirt and broken selenite
crystals that lay all over the earth up to a small wooden ladder. I
climbed up and over right onto jagged and pointed growing giant selenite
crystals that Carlos Lazcano calls the “Voca de Tiburon” (shark’s mouth)
and was hit by a blast of humid heat. That smell! It filled my nostrils.
Ancient dirt
baking in an oven. I crawled slowly up into this dark cave with only a
miner's light, holding on to pointed tips of crystals. I couldn’t
believe what I was seeing.
The enormous size of crystals and intense heat was overwhelming. A
gigantic waterfall of selenite crystal 20 feet high stood before me,
onto which I climbed up. When I reached the top of the cyrstalfall, the
heat was even more intense. My heart was beating so fast I thought I
would not make it. It took all that I had not to panic. Behind the
crystal waterfall were even huger jagged selenite crystals that led to
the back of the cave. It is estimated that the size of this smaller cave
is around 2,000 feet. We took as many photos as we could. I was becoming
extremely nervous. Feeling dizzy, I was afraid I would fall down and
really injure myself in the process. I thought Rick underestimated the
heat. It felt like 110 degrees in there.
Attempting to solve the humidity affecting the cameras was extremely
difficult but Rick figured it out. A professional photographer with
credits from all over the world, he solved the problem. Clear filters
over the lenses and allowing the cameras to adjust to the extreme heat
held the answer. No computerized cameras could do the job, only the
manual ones.
We stumbled our way out of there and back into the tunnels of the main
mine where the air was slightly cooler. We drank huge amounts of
Gatorade and other liquids and were completely drenched in sweat and
humidity. I felt like I had been hit by a tsunami of energy. We went
back into the smaller cave, the Cave of Dreams, a couple of more times.
I was completely exhausted but we still had to prepare to ourselves to
enter the Cave of Giants to film the really big selenite crystals. It
was then that I started to be concerned I wouldn’t be able to do the job
or to get a peek of the giants. I prayed for strength and courage.
Enrique, Chief of Security, then drove us towards the mining shaft that
brings cool air from the surface down into the Naica mine. Mexicans have
mined here for over two hundred years. Lead, silver and zinc are the
main properties but there is a myriad of other minerals as well. They
discovered the crystals while searching for a main vein of minerals.
Once we recovered and the sweat had mostly dried on our skin, we drove
about five more minutes down the tunnel to a completely sealed concrete
wall with a rusted iron door and a heavy lock. This cave, The Cave of
the Giants and the Cave of Dreams are connected through an adjoining
wall.
Some of the mineworkers are attempting to remove these gigantic crystals
and sell them on the black market in Mexico, but the weight and enormity
of the crystals makes that impossible and dangerous to attempt. One man
had already died in the Cave of Giants by using archaic means to move
the crystals out of there. He didn’t have enough air and lost
consciousness. When they finally found him, he was cooked to death.
Management decided to increase security.When Enrique, opened the sacred
door, a blast of humid, hot air hit our faces and we had not even
approached what was then named “The Eye of the Queen”. This
is where the miners made the first opening into the crystal wall.
Another twenty feet and up three steps we crawled into a hole that
resembled a huge eye set in selenite crystals. The heat was completely
oppressive. It was 150 degrees in there and 100 percent humidity. But
what I saw was unbelievable. Stepping inside a giant geode, there were
massive structures, 30 to 50 feet tall of solid selenite crystals. They
criss-crossed from every direction. It was similar to Superman’s
Fortress of Solitude. They felt as solid as steel and as alive as living
tree trunks. Nothing in my reality had prepared me for such a place. We
attempted to cover as much as possible but the cave was deeply recessed
and dark. I went back three more times into this Cave of Giants because
a human could not survive in there for more than five or six minutes at
a time. We wanted to explore as much of the room as we could in what
little time that we had.
We also shot as many photographs as possible. I stumbled and crawled all
over this 4,000-foot room of treasure. That is when I found the dead
man’s rope and crow bar that he used in his attempt to steal one of the
giants. When we could no longer take the heat, we stumbled out of there
blinded by the sweat in our eyes, completely drenched and exhausted.
Speechless and with deep gratitude there were no injuries to any of us,
I sat in silence as we drove and worked our way slowly out of the
tunnels back to the surface. We made it out of there safely and that was
the first moment I could relax. This was indeed one on the most glorious
experiences of my life and also one of the hardest. How I was chosen for
this assignment, I do not know. I am honored to be the first American
woman to enter these rare crystal caves. I have since learned that the
Penoles Mine Group had allowed no women to enter the mining operations
because of superstition. To be the first woman to enter seems
incredible.
No other selenite giants have been discovered on the earth so far. Now,
I will do everything I can to ensure these crystals are not taken out of
the earth. The Creator, for a reason, made these beautiful earth
keepers. I don’t believe anything just happens without a purpose. Even
the growth of crystals has a purpose and/or reason.
We took some pretty amazing slides/photos and I have within my
possession rare photographs of me standing on the crystals in both
caves. This was a private government expedition for the purposes of
scientific research. The public will not be allowed for some time, if at
all. Who could tolerate that sort of heat?
If you are interested in having a set of these rare photos, you can
order below. Just write to me at my e-mail address. This money would
continue to further my ability to send this story out to others and
create a website to post this information about these rare crystals. We
have prepared a slide presentation as well and would be interested in
booking an evening where there
is interest.
Crystal Photo: http://members.aol.com/giantcrystals/the.htm
compliments of CH
