I just came back from Caving, ask me anything

[NMDemDist2]

Tour Description
National Geographic expedition members in 1924 wrote about the wonders of Lower Cave. Visitors today can see the evidence left behind from these and other explorers. You will descend 10 feet into Lower Cave down a flowstone slope by knotted rope and proceed to descend 50 feet down three sets of ladders. This trip is not recommended for anyone with a fear of enclosed spaces. Bring gloves, four new AA alkaline batteries and optional kneepads per person. The park provides helmets and headlamps. Participants should wear sturdy shoes.

Tour Details
Duration: 3 hr. 00 min.
Distance: 1 miles
Number of Steps: 0
Accessible: No
Effort: Difficult

[lost-in-nj]

1. you are so much braver

than me...

:scared:

I would LOVE to do this

but those close spaces stop me

I envy you


lost

[NMDemDist2]

2. the close space was optional but I did it anyway

I thought it would be dark but the helmet light was great


the rest of the tour wasn't tight at all, just a couple 'keyholes' to go through, the cave is HUGE!!

[Taverner]

3. Did you speelunk?

Did I spell that right?

[NMDemDist2]

5. I think only one "e"

and technically no, I didn't :evilgrin:

[seemunkee]

9. No caver ever calls it that

I used to work at an outfitters back in college. One of the other guys did mapping work in Mammoth cave for the park service and did cave rescue work. He took me a couple of times but I preferred to climb high than go underground despite the beautiful formations.

Did you get completely covered in mud?

[NMDemDist2]

10. our cave is very wet, but didn't get too muddy really

other than my shoes, gloves and kneepads

[yellowdogintexas]

13. You are quite correct! RE: the caver you knew.... I used to cave in Mammoth

myself, back in the day. Do you remember his name? If you do, just PM me.

and got completely covered in mud more than once. Came out wet into a cold February night and had ice in my coveralls before I got back to the car.

[yellowdogintexas]

4. dammit now I am jealous! I have so much joint pain I could not do that but I sure

did enjoy it when I could!

Is this a Wild Cave Tour at Carlsbad?

[NMDemDist2]

6. yuppers

sorry about the pain :hug:

but this old fat broad did it anyway, I'll pay for it tomorrow I can tell already :cry:

[yellowdogintexas]

7. yep, no crawling for me anymore, wrists and knees would yell at me ...

I could do a nice walking tour over moderately uneven terrain but I don't trust my hands to grip anything or my knees not to go out on me.

Ironically I could belly crawl just fine. You just get on your tummy, and use your feet and elbows. I would still pay for it of course.

[NMDemDist2]

8. the crawling is totally optional

the getting into it was the tough

[yellowdogintexas]

14. how did you get in? ladder was it? It's the heights and the falling that used

to scare the hell out of me..I would take the small tight stuff any day over falling a 50 or 100 feet.

of course all that crawling is probably why I have arthritis in my hands now.

[NMDemDist2]

18. it's 10 feet with a rope down the flowstone, then 60 foot of ladders (dialup warning)

whew! right at the VERRRRYYYY bottom of the pic, note the small hole. that's where the ladders are. there are three ladders actually

once you're in, the cave is huge! Mammoth is the longest, we're the largest in the country

[yellowdogintexas]

23. oh I know there are some honkin' big rooms in the CCNP system! Those rooms

dwarf the individual rooms @ MCNP, that is true. MCNP does have some pretty big rooms but nothing like out there, and not as pretty.

Well there is some drop dead gorgeous stuff in Mammoth but it is not on public view. Too fragile although quite accessible.

In my head, I think I could do that rope, assuming my grip held up.

I may have to take some time to take a cave tour when I am up in Kentucky later this month .

[NMDemDist2]

33. hell, we're only 5 hours away

and our cave is paved :rofl:

come on down!!

PM me if you want some tickets, I'll set you up!!

[yellowdogintexas]

48. I am in Fort Worth, but I sure will remember that when we head that way again

that would be most certainly cool.

[NMDemDist2]

53. I'll be driving throught FW Friday and then again Tuesday

I'll wave as I whiz by on I-20

[yellowdogintexas]

55. I am .5 miles from I 20, seriesly...and I know an excellent Mexican place just off

the road.....

[NMDemDist2]

61. dang, we prolly won't stop, wanna be in Shreveport for dinner

maybe a trip that;s not so fast

[yellowdogintexas]

63. fine by me just don't forget.

but if you change your mind, holler.

[Monk06]

11. What was your position before you caved?

:hide:

[NMDemDist2]

12. I'm amazed it took 4 responses to get that

:yourock:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. Caves...

:scared:

[NMDemDist2]

19. the cave room I was in is bigger than Tampa stadium

no worries :hug:

[Gormy Cuss]

16. So what you're saying is

that you got lost at work?
:P





Did you have fun? I've never been caving but I have gone on subterranean tours and it's a neat feeling.

[NMDemDist2]

17. ROFL

nah, I just got out of sitting at my desk all afternoon.

no loss though, the system has been down for two days.

there was an open spot so I took it :evilgrin:

[Swede]

20. What kind of protection do you wear while spelunking?

:shrug:

[NMDemDist2]

22. technically it was caving not spelunking and I had a helmet

gloves and kneepads

[Fox Mulder]

21. I used to do that when I was in college.

I was really interested in speleology and speleogenesis. I majored in geology in my undergrad years and I was really considering going to grad school for speleology.

[yellowdogintexas]

24. There are some good programs out there.

My husband was a geo major at Michigan State and he ended up in Petroleum ..but it was caving that led him to geology as a major.

Where did you go to school, if I may ask or which grad program were you considering? Indiana has a good one

on edit: you could always hook up with your local NSS and go exploring again

[SPKrazy]

25. Did you see Winnie The Pooh Stuck?

I always worried about that :P

[BreweryYardRat]

26. Sadly, "The Descent" (and my overactive imagination) put me off the idea of caving for life.

If you like it, though, more power to you!

[yellowdogintexas]

28. um the only true thing about that movie is the cold and wet and the amazing vertical

stuff that you encounter when caving. they did build one hell of a fake cave. Best I have ever seen.

my husband, another armchair caver absolutely hated that movie..he is a geologist and well, he just went nuts. Even though it was a SciFi flick and he loves that stuff, just don't make the cave and the geology do weird things.

[BreweryYardRat]

30. Have the decency not to patronize me, please.

I know armies of scuttling molemen don't exist. I'm more freaked out by the idea of getting lost in the dark. And since I don't get along well with people, I have very little faith in the buddy/group system.

[yellowdogintexas]

31. sorry sorry, did not mean to come off like that...I have been asked too many times about

scary creatures in the cave, seriously...you would be amazed how often I have been asked

Seriously, cavers are actually quite bonded when underground, and those women weren't experienced cavers, if I remember correctly. breaking up the group is a major no no, and the other really bad thing they did was not have an above ground contact who would be expecting them at a particular time...of course that was all for plot effect I know.

Mostly the people who do get lost in caves are first timers who either go alone or unprepared. We are actually pretty protective of one another.

But the set was still fabulous

:hi:

[NMDemDist2]

32. my ranger buddies were laughing at me after the tour

"so AZDem, did you have your three light sources?"

"well, not really, but I had a set of extra batteries, a candle stub and 4 lighters in my fanny pack, does that count?"


:rofl:

[yellowdogintexas]

43. oh my God that is so funny. Were you caving electric or carbide?

I use to carry an extra lamp bottom, a baby bottle of carbide and a bottle of water (empty frozen lemon juice bottles are the best) and a small flashlight.

4 lighters in the fanny pack :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[NMDemDist2]

54. our Park helmets now are using LED lamps and they are GREAT

they have another bulb in them but it wasn't up to the distances to the stuff I wanted to see

whatever regular flashlites use I guess, it was handy for checking out close stuff

[yellowdogintexas]

60. LOL I was in Floyd Collins Crystal back in October with some folks who were using a triple beam

LED, man that was weird to come up on in the dark.

[UrbScotty]

27. Oh, I thought you were Steny Hoyer!

:D

[Orsino]

29. So how's the weather in Washington, Rep. Pelosi? n/t

[cwydro]

34. I did a lot of caving in college.

Absolutely nothing like it. It is a blast.

Crawling through mud and squeezing through itty bitty holes to emerge into a giant room - just fantastic.

Albino fish and crawfish.

And there is nothing darker than a cave, when you turn out your headlamp. Your eyes cannot adjust to it, because there is no light whatsoever.

We used the old fashinoned gas lamps. I'll never forget that smell.

[NMDemDist2]

35. we're 850 foot down at that point

no fish there, but some beautiful cave pearls in the pools

[cwydro]

36. That is so cool.

My caving was all in Tennessee and Kentucky; lots of deep water in there.

Glad you got to experience it. I would so love to go again. Did you see any bats? Was this a wild cave?

[NMDemDist2]

38. nah, I took the elevator down, but there is a bat body in one of the 'mites

and no, it wasn't a wild cave, it's been very tamed these last 85 years it's been a National Park

:hi:

[cwydro]

40. Still, I know you loved it.

A very different environment.:hi:

[NMDemDist2]

41. I work there

but behind a desk

it's always neat to go see a different part......

I really need to get in better shape for the REALLY cool stuff.......

[cwydro]

42. I was in terrific shape when I was caving.

Hmmm, well I was in college then and a helluva lot younger too, lol.

[yellowdogintexas]

46. me too! Best shape of my life, actually.

Pregnancy, surgery, a kidney stone, distance and eventually ornery arthritis have all taken their toll.

But hubby and I will take any commercial tour we come across, given that we have enough time. Last May we did Wind Cave and Jewel Cave in the same day. That was fun!

All this caving talk is making me itchy to get underground, I am going to have to squeeze in a cave tour when I am in KY week after next.

Tennessee/Kentucky? What college?

[cwydro]

50. I was in college in NC.

I actually got paid to take groups caving, through the university's Outdoor Leadership program. Man, I never knew how good I had it.

Naw, now that I remember, I think I did.

[yellowdogintexas]

57. getting paid to cave is every caver's dream isn't it? My husband worked for

the park hydrologist at Mammoth one summer and was paid to cave

[yellowdogintexas]

47. you know of course that I now hate you. Working at CCNP..grumble, gripe

groan moan spit etc. ;) :toast: :hi:

I would be willing to venture we have one or two mutual friends, possibly.

edited to add: did anybody buy White's City yet?
I want to win the lottery just to do that and give the whole thing to CRF for a Western Research Center!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[NMDemDist2]

51. ahhh come on, I can get ya in free

:rofl:

and yeah, a rich local Morman family bought White City, took possession the first of the month.

[yellowdogintexas]

56. oh crap. have they fenced in the compound yet? How much you want to bet

it's a polygamist group.

[yellowdogintexas]

44. very stinky stuff, isn't it? Good old carbide. nt

[cwydro]

49. Carbide lamps, yeppur. I think I still have mine.

You know, it has been 20 years and I can smell that stuff without even trying hard.

[yellowdogintexas]

58. it gets in your sinuses and stays there forever nt

[GoddessOfGuinness]

37. I love caves!

I don't have the physique or the experience to actually spelunk; but I enjoy taking cave tours. I loved that NG special on Lechugilla! Stunning!

[NMDemDist2]

39. yeah, everybody's really excited about Lechugilla, we're up to 126 miles

surveyed so far.....

[yellowdogintexas]

45. you folks are chasing our tail up at Mammoth. ..I did not realize Lechugilla

was that long..refresh my memory, is it an offshoot of the main cave or out there on its own not connected to anything else? I should know this of course, having a brain freeze.

I think Mammoth is about 375 miles, as announced at the CRF 50th anniversary party last October.

[NMDemDist2]

52. it's on the next (ancient) reef over. we're just thrilled it's within the Park

boundaries

It's so big and they find new branches every week. they are going slow and not exploring the very delicate 'wings' until the scientists can get in there

[yellowdogintexas]

59. oh yeah, with it in the park, you can protect it. Damn that thing is gorgeous

just gorgeous

[BlueIris]

62. I feel like I haven't seen you around in forever. Where have you been?

[NMDemDist2]

66. been working full time all summer

haven't been around much for sure.....

:hi:

[PBS Poll-435]

64. So....did you wear sturdy shoes?

If so, what kind?

[NMDemDist2]

65. yes, I wore running shoes

thank heaven they had a 'heel' I could use on the ladder rungs.

[yellowdogintexas]

67. I used to wear Army Surplus Jungle boots, men's size 5 1/2 because they did

not make good caving boots for small feet anywhere else. Plus the mesh and grommits in the jungle boot allowed water to flow out of the shoe, which was helpful.

Lug soles, protect feet against bruises, tall supportive ankles.

[Adsos Letter]

68. So...did you glimpse bin Laden, or Cheney?

maybe both of them together, sharing a nice meal?