My First Cave Adventure

My First Cave Adventure

by Jaimee Blocksom

Publication Date: April 1996

When I found out I'd been signed up for a five-hour exploratory caving trip along with two friends - I was apprehensive. Spending hours in the cold, dark underground dodging bats didn't seem too interesting. The more I thought about it, the less it appealed to me. On the day of the trip, I spent the drive to the site trying to convince myself that it might be fun. After all, the only things I knew about it were that it was to be cool (50 or so degrees), dark, and that we might get a little wet.

When we got there, the other four people who were on our trip with us had all been to Mammoth cave and assured me that caving was really a lot of fun. We were each given knee and elbow pads, a helmet with a headlamp, and a fanny pack that contained a candy bar, a sport's drink, an extra light, and spare batteries. We went over the basics, including what to expect from our caving experience. The guides even took us over to a practice cave to show us the structures we would be seeing.

There were some small passages that we had to be able to crawl through, so participants had to be under a certain chest size. Of course, the one person on the trip that seemed to push the limit was with me. As we started out, we had a guide in front and one in back. I placed myself third in line, so I was close enough to the guide to hear everything, but someone else was going first in case anything bad happened.

At the beginning of the trip, it was necessary to pass through a small tunnel to gain access into the cave. Of course, the second person in line was the one with the broad shoulders. I was certain he was stuck and there was no way that we were going to make it into the cave. After a few moments of struggling, he made his way through the narrow passage, and the rest of us had no difficulty slipping through.

Once inside the cave, we began to follow a small stream and the guides told us we would be encountering a lot of mud. He also informed us that most of the passages did not allow for standing; therefore, we would be crawling for most of our trip. (FIVE HOURS OF CRAWLING THROUGH COLD WATER AND MUD?) I was certain that they were exaggerating, just so we'd know not to complain. Why would anyone elect to go crawling around in mud when it was a perfectly beautiful day outside? Unfortunately, my attempt at denial was not very successful. It soon became quite clear that we were going to be doing the belly crawl for most of our trip.

While crawling through one of the tunnels, my headlamp would only illuminate the feet of the person in front of me. The smell of mud was amplified through my nose and I was sure that I must be having a bad dream. I contemplated several ways of gaining revenge on my friend who signed me up for this preview of hell.

Just when I thought the trip was turning out to be fine we ran into a few snags. People seemed to get stuck as they got tired. A few of us even developed sudden claustrophobia, and we had to remain in cramped spaces until people could calm down. The idea of crawling through more mud, even if it meant we could leave, was not a comforting thought. To make matters worse, at the end of the trip, our guide seemed disoriented and led us down the wrong tunnel. At the instant everyone was lodged into the tunnel, our guide realized that it wasn't the exit. We had to crawl backwards, having no idea which way to turn or twist, until we hit something with our feet. It wasn't exactly a morale booster, however, the problem was quickly remedied and we were able to climb out into the sunlight. We had each brought a change of clothes, and they showed us where to find power hoses to clean all of our clothing and gear. I have never in my life been so thankful to see a shower. Twenty minutes with the power hose didn't begin to clear away the mud from our clothes, but it did a lot for our spirits.

By the time the five hour trip was over, we were feeling like the crew from Gilligan's Island. It never occurred to me that they meant five actual hours inside the cave, besides the time needed to get set up and cleaned up. Our caving experience ranged from small tunnels, where you could only see the feet in front of you - to large rooms with beautiful rocks and shiny stalactites. We were able to see blind cave fish and other strange creatures. It was quite peaceful inside, especially when we reached the larger rooms and everyone was in better spirits. It was an exhausting trip, but I found myself quite excited that I survived.

To this day, my friend and I joke about the caving experience as the single worst adventure of our lives. But, I have heard that Mammoth Cave is much drier, and well...being underground wasn't that bad!