I remember looking up and watching the top of the mine shaft get smaller and smaller, and then eventually disappear into the shadows. The smell of sulfur was overwhelming, and so was the closeness. Even little me felt claustrophobic shuffling through the tunnels.
My family wasn’t big on camping growing up, so when the tour guides had all of us turn off our headlamps for a few seconds, that was my first time seeing 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 darkness. Real no-streetlamps, no-stars, no-moon, under-the-ground darkness.