Impromptu Spelunking
"How do you feel about confined spaces?"
Um.... (what sort of game is she proposing?) depends on what's in them, I guess.
"Bats, dark, water, and mud."
(Uh oh, she wants me to crawl under the house for some reason...) Er, I'm not too fond of them.
So began the conversation with duriyah Friday evening. Little did I know that about 20 hours later we'd be 70 feet underground and belly-deep in frigid water.
It turned out that her friend at work had reservations for caving at an annual caving event in a part of Kentucky that's extremely dense with caves. Some people who'd planned to go had cancelled, so we were invited to take their places. But this required gathering equipment and packing Friday night, then getting up early Saturday morning to head to Kentucky.
The only other time I've gone caving was on a school tour as a kid, and this level 2 trip, the first one scheduled for Saturday afternoon, promised to be a little more difficult. The words "ridiculously wet" didn't register with me yet at this point; I was more concerned (unecessarily) about having enough light.
I was happy to try an adventure, but between not really knowing what to expect and not having the sort of clothing appropriate for this, I was rather nervous Friday night. It did help my state of mind to go out and buy some clothes and boots that seemed like they might be helpful. By the time I finished packing I was feeling more ready (though we were still planning to borrow some essential equipment the next morning).
Saturday we managed to get up, get dressed, and meet up with our traveling companions in plenty of time to make the drive to Kentucky and still have time for lunch when we got there. We then got our borrowed kneepads and helmets and headlights securely fastened to ourselves, and joined the group of almost 30 people heading for the cave.
Inside the cave we got geology lessons (well, reviews for the geologists in our group) in the big rooms, and crawled through some low-ceiling areas that made me grateful for the kneepads and helmet. And there was a lot more outside time or nearly-outside time than I'd expected, so we saw at least as many stalagmites made of ice as of limestone. For a while there was a lot more sand than mud under us though. Then we were led through a short bit of high water (and low ceiling) that I managed to keep around knee-height by clambering onto a side shelf, though some unlucky people had that cold water up to crotch-height. Either way, my waterproof boots were now full of really cold water. Then we got out of the water and saw the much dryer way to get to the same spot.
Later was what could be considered the climax of the trip. We waded into a much longer bit of water, and this time there was no shallow ridge to follow or side shelf to climb onto. Just ever-deeping water and ever-lowering ceiling. I don't know about others, but the water level got above my waste, approaching chest-height. And then the worst part -- we stopped. In the water. Because at the end of this wading, where there was once again dry(er) rock to stand on, there was a small bathroom-sized space to stand and an eight-foot climb. So people were relieved to get out of the cold water and stand up straight, but had to be persuaded to move to make room for others to do the same. (It didn't help that half of the group was boy scouts that weren't very good at paying attention to what was going on around them.) And the climb was a major bottleneck (again hindered by a boy scout who decided to sit and watch from right at the top rather than making room for the climbers). Finally we got to the top.... and realized that we could've gotten there just as easily by climbing up first rather than going through the water.
Overall it was a fun experience. The pointlessness of wading through cold water to get somewhere we could get without the water was a bit annoying, but the rest was fun. Others in our group were more experienced at caving than I, and were disappointed with the "lameness" of the trip; they want to go for a level 3 trip next year. I'd be OK with more crawling (though the helmet makes that more difficult than otherwise) and a longer trip, but I'd be a lot happier with less deep frigid water.
Afterward we went to a hotel to shower, put on dry clothes, and nap. Then our group of six went out for dinner and then played Cranium all evening. Then the next morning we returned to Columbus, had lunch at the Northstar Cafe, and came home to rest some more.
(Read the other side of the story too.)
Um.... (what sort of game is she proposing?) depends on what's in them, I guess.
"Bats, dark, water, and mud."
(Uh oh, she wants me to crawl under the house for some reason...) Er, I'm not too fond of them.
So began the conversation with duriyah Friday evening. Little did I know that about 20 hours later we'd be 70 feet underground and belly-deep in frigid water.
It turned out that her friend at work had reservations for caving at an annual caving event in a part of Kentucky that's extremely dense with caves. Some people who'd planned to go had cancelled, so we were invited to take their places. But this required gathering equipment and packing Friday night, then getting up early Saturday morning to head to Kentucky.
The only other time I've gone caving was on a school tour as a kid, and this level 2 trip, the first one scheduled for Saturday afternoon, promised to be a little more difficult. The words "ridiculously wet" didn't register with me yet at this point; I was more concerned (unecessarily) about having enough light.
I was happy to try an adventure, but between not really knowing what to expect and not having the sort of clothing appropriate for this, I was rather nervous Friday night. It did help my state of mind to go out and buy some clothes and boots that seemed like they might be helpful. By the time I finished packing I was feeling more ready (though we were still planning to borrow some essential equipment the next morning).
Saturday we managed to get up, get dressed, and meet up with our traveling companions in plenty of time to make the drive to Kentucky and still have time for lunch when we got there. We then got our borrowed kneepads and helmets and headlights securely fastened to ourselves, and joined the group of almost 30 people heading for the cave.
Inside the cave we got geology lessons (well, reviews for the geologists in our group) in the big rooms, and crawled through some low-ceiling areas that made me grateful for the kneepads and helmet. And there was a lot more outside time or nearly-outside time than I'd expected, so we saw at least as many stalagmites made of ice as of limestone. For a while there was a lot more sand than mud under us though. Then we were led through a short bit of high water (and low ceiling) that I managed to keep around knee-height by clambering onto a side shelf, though some unlucky people had that cold water up to crotch-height. Either way, my waterproof boots were now full of really cold water. Then we got out of the water and saw the much dryer way to get to the same spot.
Later was what could be considered the climax of the trip. We waded into a much longer bit of water, and this time there was no shallow ridge to follow or side shelf to climb onto. Just ever-deeping water and ever-lowering ceiling. I don't know about others, but the water level got above my waste, approaching chest-height. And then the worst part -- we stopped. In the water. Because at the end of this wading, where there was once again dry(er) rock to stand on, there was a small bathroom-sized space to stand and an eight-foot climb. So people were relieved to get out of the cold water and stand up straight, but had to be persuaded to move to make room for others to do the same. (It didn't help that half of the group was boy scouts that weren't very good at paying attention to what was going on around them.) And the climb was a major bottleneck (again hindered by a boy scout who decided to sit and watch from right at the top rather than making room for the climbers). Finally we got to the top.... and realized that we could've gotten there just as easily by climbing up first rather than going through the water.
Overall it was a fun experience. The pointlessness of wading through cold water to get somewhere we could get without the water was a bit annoying, but the rest was fun. Others in our group were more experienced at caving than I, and were disappointed with the "lameness" of the trip; they want to go for a level 3 trip next year. I'd be OK with more crawling (though the helmet makes that more difficult than otherwise) and a longer trip, but I'd be a lot happier with less deep frigid water.
Afterward we went to a hotel to shower, put on dry clothes, and nap. Then our group of six went out for dinner and then played Cranium all evening. Then the next morning we returned to Columbus, had lunch at the Northstar Cafe, and came home to rest some more.
(Read the other side of the story too.)