The first inhabitants of the Weyr were delighted to discover a series of large caverns, left by gigantous bubbles of gases in the cooling rock that could, with minimal effort, be transformed into an efficient complex to house the Weyr's day to day doings, including the dining cavern, kitchens, and Head(wo)man's office, in addition to the lower caverns and rooms for non-riders.

Nestled up against the western shores of the Weyr Lake, the Weyrlings' Corner is the perfect Hatchling paradise. The young dragons and their new lifemates can splash along the sandy shores in the summer and slip and slide on the lake's frozen surface during the snowy winter months. A small stream trickles into the large, partially hollowed out mountain that houses the young dragonpairs, forming baby dragon-sized bathing pools that are naturally heated.

Shattercones litter the path from the Weyrling Barracks to the Candidate dorms, and newly searched candidates enjoy watching the young dragons play among the various sized rock formations. Above them all, in the top of Barrack Mountain, Ithaca's Weyrlingmasters watch carefully from their private weyrs.

The already well-worn path continues to the river, where a stone bridge creates a quick route to the Hatching Caverns.

By far the most difficult bit of construction in the Weyr, the Hatching Cavern took months of hard labor to complete. Blasting powder was used to carefully form a massive hollow into the solid granite wall of the crater. Pillars of red granite (slowly being carved into masterpieces by the Weyr's artists), are left standing to support the roof of the Cavern, and man-made terraces form spectator tiers, though many holders who attend Hatchings find it a bit unsettling to be surrounded by so many tons of solid rock. The underground heat keeps the Hatching Grounds quite warm, even on the coldest winter day. The fine sand of the grounds is tinted red with granite dust leftover from blastings and chisels. During their first visit to the Sands, awed candidates are enthralled when their weyrlingmaster makes the sands "sing" by rubbing his hands across the surface of the ultra-fine grains.