Lost In A Cave

There are like three rules to caving.  Take two lights in.  Wear a helmet.  Leave a note on your car dashboard with the time that you entered the cave, and the time you expect to be out of the cave.  That’s kinda it.  Of course there are common sense rules.  Don’t get stuck.  Look before you step.  Don’t pet the bats.  If you have to verbalize these rules to anyone your group, maybe you should think twice about taking them along.

One summer I convinced two of my friends to come with me to West Virginia for a long weekend of caving and whitewater rafting.  After driving almost all night and sleep-rolling through only one red light, we arrived at Bowden cave, near the city of Elkins.  We had our lights, we had our helmets (really just replica plastic baseball helmets), and our note to put on the dashboard of my trusty 88 Honda Accord.  Into the cave we went.  This particular cave has miles of passageways.  I’m not really sure if it has ever been fully mapped.  I had been there several times before, but we had never gone more than a quarter mile in.  Together we explored the parts of the cave that I was familiar with.  We got wet and muddy, and were having a thoroughly good time.  A good enough time, that we decided to explore a side passage.  The passage was about three feet wide and five feet tall, with a stream running through it.  We barreled right in.

Here is where I pause to explain why goofy things happen to guys.  We are simple.  So, when we are having fun, we think, “What could make this more funner?”  Easy answer, “More of what we are having fun doing”, usually on a bigger scale.  The problem with this way of thinking is that more is not always better.

We were having fun, so exploring new territory should be what?,,,,,, that’s right, more funner.  We made it all the way to the end of the narrow passageway.  There the cave opened back up.  Quick calculation.  Were we still having fun?  YES. What would make it more funner?  Keep going!  We kept going.  Now, we had entered the cave with six flashlights.  Two of them were pretty much dead.  Twenty minutes later we were down to three.  Time to turn around.  We had to find the entrance to the narrow passage so we could get back to the mouth of the cave.  The problem with this was that one area of rocks and mud is pretty hard to differentiate from another area of rocks and mud.  There we were, three stooges wandering around, looking for the way back to daylight.  I don’t know how many of you have been in a cave and turned off your light, but total blackness is intimidating.  I was starting to get worried.  When we were down to two good lights, our guardian angels decided to stop toying with us.  We quite literally stumbled upon the opening.  About half a mile later the sun welcomed us back into an early fall afternoon.

Bowden cave has since had a been closed, due to cave in.  I’m not sure if it will be reopened, or maybe parts of it are open.  I don’t know.  I would like to get those guys back together though.  Maybe we could get further this time.  That would be more funner.