More Boldly Going

More Camping Caving Spelunking pics and random commentary.

This was our last outing. My scout turns eighteen soon and then it's all over. I didn't get all weepy. Most guys don't really appreciate that.

Nature was kind. It rained heavily during the night and sometimes during the day but never when we were cooking.


There was an eagle's nest nearby, up on a pole specially made for it, I think to keep the eagles from nesting on power lines. A mating pair waited patiently for us to quit messing around near their pole.


Here's us before we went in. You can tell it's a before shot because we're not all muddy.


Here's another of me because the cute redhead who fitted us up took it and so I have to publish it. She took my camera because visitors aren't allowed to carry cameras while going down the rope. Probably they had too many dropped cameras shattering on top of people watching down below. Did I mention how cute she was? And a redhead. Real easy-going, too, I think foothills life is either very slow or very, erm, hemp-enhanced.


Done with the rope thing, we went spelunking. This is where you follow your guide, preferably an adorable redhead, down into the mountain and crawl through mud-enslimed cracks in the bones of the earth. Passages have names like Devil's Chimney and Meatgrinder. I was the only adult to go on this part. Somehow the tale of another trip in which one of our heftier ASMs got stuck between two rocks and had to wait in the dark for three hours before they managed to get him out failed to inspire the other grownups to go. Some of them, to be fair, couldn't go because they had smaller boys to look after. Maybe it's just a general rule that grownups don't go. That would explain why I do.


Not a place for the claustrophobic. Also helps to be able to pull your weight with just your arms, because some places there just wasn't room to get a leg in place with which to push. Wriggle an inch at a time is what you have to do, while protruding rocks dig into whatever spine or hipbone is convenient. It's a lot of fun. It really is.


Once back out in the main cavern, we watched some more scouts do the rope thing. It’s a wonderful thing to watch a twelve year old boy who’s never done anything like repel 165 feet down a rope take his fears in hand, focus on the moment to moment motions, and make it to the bottom in one piece, filled with a quiet triumph. You see a positive growth that will never be taken away. I strongly wish no child would be ignored, but would be guided through the paces of their choosing, challenged, facing fear, and coming out a winner. How much happier would the world be?