We’ve had this one planned for weeks, ever since Annabelle’s birthday. She liked caving so much that she wanted another shot at the underground labyrinth. Last time we went, we only covered a small portion of the cave. This time we planned to bite off a little more of the underground goodness. As an added bonus, Kim’s brother (Uncle Dew) and 3 of his kids were along for the excursion, as well as cousin Wes.
The day was much the same as the last trip–started off hot and muggy. The long hike was just as long, but we covered the ground about 15 minutes faster! I don’t know if I pushed them a little more than last time, but we were all soaked and red-faced by the time we reached the cave. The lack of rain over the past 2 months really showed, as there was very little water moving through the stream bed into the entrance of the cave. We did encounter a big black snake just as we crossed the stream, but he wasn’t interested in us.
Another group pulled into the parking lot just as we were about to start our hike up the hillside, and they arrived at the cave as we were changing into our caving clothes. We opted to let them enter first, as they were only planning to spend a little time inside. They were all high school kids, working on some leadership experiences with a local camp. So we played around in the entrance of the cave until the first of their group exited.
We had just gotten going when Levi’s headlamp decided to give up the ghost. I made a beeline back to the entrance and nabbed another light for him, and we were back in business. I had a few destinations plugged in for our adventure: The Mud Room, where we all sit with lights extinguished and talk about the power of the light, and Jesus calling us the light of the world; Suicide Pass, a climb up and through a small slit in the rocks; Larimer’s Tunnel, a 75-foot belly crawl through some awfully tight spots; Backbreaker Pass, where you have to contort your body around some awkward rocks…
I couldn’t have been more pleased with the day. We had several first-timers with us, and they all did great. Everybody pushed themselves out of their comfort zones, and to hear Levi coaching and encouraging his younger cousins was a blast! We actually crawled through 2 tunnels; a short one that we ran into gave us an opportunity to see how we’d do with the much longer and tighter Larimer’s. I told the group to crawl with their arms extended to avoid getting trapped with their arms by their sides. Levi found out that I was giving good advice when he briefly got stuck in the tightest spot in Larimer’s!
We spent about 3 hours underground, and still haven’t covered all of the cave. When we stopped to take a break before heading back topside, Annabelle asked if the cave kept going down. I told her that there was still more to be explored, and she grinned. Then she asked if we could come back tomorrow to go deeper!
Another day, my young adventuress! The Keyhole is next!
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