Bucket List: 3 Miles Underground

In his effort to really make 2013 positively awesome, my muscle man went off in search of more caves after our failed attempt the other weekend (link)... And lucky for us (him?), he found a trip offered through the university where he works! And lucky for us (definitely him... I was so hoping for a bit of a break) was only a few weeks away! So off we went this weekend to a private cave with a group and (at least semi-)professional guides!

 The only clue from the road that anything is abnormal about the space (and by road, I mean 4 mile long private drive =P) was the "to keep people out" barb wire fencing... Oh and the big "keep out" sign haha! It's definitely not a tourist attraction, and the curators have no intentions of it ever becoming one, which is pretty cool, but it would be so awesome if more people could experience it! It was quite literally a hole in the wall, totally unassuming but wow what wonders were inside!

 That's no perspective error, the door/opening to the cave was tiny, we had to hunch down to get in! They broke us down into small groups, and into the cave we went with a guide in front and one in back to make sure none of us got lost in the abyss!

 I decided not to take my slr, so these photos are seriously lacking in quality.. I only had my ancient point-and-shoot (seriously, I think I got it as a graduation gift, from high school...and my 10 year reunion is getting terribly close =P) and it has zero manual controls, sadly... But not having to worry about a camera was very nice, considering I was WAY outside my comfort zone when it came to the climbing! While there were several places where it was just walking around in relatively flat, though sometimes cramped, rooms and passageways, there were a lot more times that it was like climbing a huge dry creek/river bed, if the river was 20 or so feet tall! So lots of big boulders/rocks, and I'm just not very good at climbing those types of things, up or down... But it was so worth it!

 Here's the big, open room we took a little break in, we had a pitch black rave party, complete with a glow stick battle haha!! The first photo was when I forgot my flash was on, the second is more what it actually looked like, with one headlamp still on! It was completely dark with no lights, like in the video below! (no audio... again, super old camera haha!!)

Once our little rave was over, some of the group continued on to the more adventurous part of the cave... And with my muscle man and his friend egging me on, I wasn't about to go with the wimp group that headed down the easy path back out of the cave... The second part of the cave was really a tight squeeze, so we left our backpacks as they would have just gotten in the way. We had to crawl/slide through several narrow passages, and even with my knee pads I still wound up with several bruises! But sadly, no backpack means no camera, so I don't have a photo of the coolest room there. It was amazingly large, it was like being inside a football stadium with a roof (never actually been in one of those, but that's the best idea I can think to compare to...) We got to sit and enjoy it for a few minutes while an even more adventurous group went to the top of the room up a boulder wall...

Oh and then there was an indoor waterfall!! OMG so amazing and overwhelming!! I did take my camera with me to the waterfall, but with its limited capabilities I wasn't able to get a good shot... Definitely couldn't have taken my slr to that without a housing, you had to climb up a hole to get to the waterfall... oh and that hole is where the waterfall drains out...


Still, despite not getting any amazing photos, it was such a great trip! And my muscle man was so excited to be inside the cave, he really enjoyed himself and is ready to go again!! As for me, I'm totally ok to let the bruises and sore muscles heal for a little bit lol =P And for my first time in a 'real' cave(aka not touristy, not permanently lit, and no handrails/walkways), it was quite the experience!!