Spelunking!

Have you ever done something with somebody else that you'd never do by yourself? I'm not talking about causing trouble or playing catch (stating the obvious). Instead, I'm referring to scary adventures. There are many things I've done, places I've gone and adventures I've tried, trusting someone else's judgement, size or ability since I had no idea what to expect or what dangers might ensnare.

One example that comes to mind is kayaking. While I love diving boards and jumping into water, I'm not a strong swimmer. I find getting into many kayaks a challenge because you have to slide in - no sitting down and then pushing your feet to the front. Also, I have never practiced rolling or flipping a kayak and getting out while upside down. Oh, that's on top of the "skirt" that attaches you to your kayak that you have to pull off. However - I've gone kayaking! Why? Despite the overwhelming fear of flipping, bashing my head on a rock and drowning, I had confidence in the skills of my cohorts to save me in a predicament.

For you, maybe the example is skiing, hiking, walking around after dark, exploring new cities or tubing down a swollen creek. You sized up your cohort, determined that they either knew what they were doing or could save you if necessary, and so you obliged to go along. Who have you trusted with your life, even if it was subconsciously? What have you been willing to try because of them? The Psalmist says, "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man." (Psalms 118:8) and "He only is my rock and my salvation: He is my defence; I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory: The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. Trust in him at all times;" (Psalms 62:6-8) While we trust in others to help us, who are you ultimately trusting with your life? The One who can provide eternal life? We have but one life to live and our days on earth are so few in light of forever. My desire is to trust in the Lord, to go wherever He leads knowing He will be there to save me from any perilous circumstances! Of course, this does not provide a right to be stupid!

Why all the talk about trust? Would you go explore a cave that requires rappelling off a 60 foot ice waterfall and 3 miles of exploring underground, knowing that after the first rappel, there is only one way out, and nobody has any idea where it is? What if you knew that many have been rescued from the caves for various reasons, like ice blocking the path or getting lost in the network of tunnels? What if you had never been rappelling? Hmmm... still not sure what I was thinking, or why I trusted the advice of someone whom I've nearly drowned with while tubing down a swollen creek, but here goes (should the inability to sleep and nightmares have been a clue?)...
Was it really necessary to leave at 5AM so we could be on the trail before 7AM?
The sun breaks over the mountain side before the moon disappears.
Looking ahead at our end point, the entrance to Darby Wind Caves. You might remember that I made an attempt to explore the Wind Caves in late spring, but the gushing waterfall coming out of the entrance hindered that attempt.

Looking out through the Wind Cave entrance. The first task was hanging a rope about 10 minutes into the Wind Caves so we'd be able to climb back out.

Crawling around before the read adventure begins.

It looks like I'm holding up the cave...

...or is the cave holding me up? (You should all know which is real and which is a rotated picture.)

Jeff heads out after dropping the rope off.

Ryan blocks the wind in this little pinch point.

Another look out the entrance where you can get a better perspective on the size of the entrance.

After dropping one rope off, we were back on the trail that ended with a steep climb to the Ice Cave entrance.

Jeff prefers rock climbing. You can see the top of the Ice cave entrance just to the left of the rock he's climbing.

Looking back on the trail we just came up.

Finally, the entrance! Nervous yet? Helmets, headlamps, gloves, warm clothes, harness (how do you put this on?), food...

It's hard to tell, but you're walking on clear ice...

...or sliding down on slick wind pants, bouncing off the walls like a human bobsled. (Oh, and yes, someone with crampons went first to make sure there were no cliffs just around the corner.)

Some of my brave cohorts (and experienced rappellers), Chris and Ryan.
Learning to rappel down a relatively easy ice incline.
Rick and Schuyler with matching "deer in the headlights" expressions (probably because the flash was so bright).
That smile makes me think Jeff doesn't realize there's a 60 foot drop off right behind him (you can see the ridge).

Chris - can you do something about that red eye?

Chris shows us how it's done as he heads over the ice waterfall!

Saying my final prayers, making sure someone remembers to tell my family I love them and repeating "No matter what, don't let go of the rope, and if you get going to fast, just pull your right hand behind you. No matter what, don't let go of the rope, and if you get going to fast, just pull your right hand behind you. No matter what, ..."

"Just lean back, Joe" as I'm standing on ice and looking down at the bottom. (The yellow rope is for safety in case the other rope breaks... "You'll bash into the rocks, but at least you won't fall very far.")

Holding my breath with a death grip on the rope.

Only 55 feet to go!

For perspective, you can see Chris at the bottom, before the ice disappears and it turns into a free fall.
It was Schuyler's first time as well!

Ricky (the Instructor) shows good form.

Ryan, the last one down, brings the rope with him.

Ouch. That's gonna leave a bruise.

Ryan clears the ice and starts the free fall.

Still free falling...

...and rappelling down the final ice mountain.

Chris tries walking on ice while being fascinated by the astounding natural features inside the cave. After rappelling the ice waterfall, there were some lengthy stretches were you had to push your bag in front of you while doing the belly crawl, other areas where you could walk hunched over, holes you had to lower yourself through (followed by everyones bags) and other spots where the ceiling was 60 feet high and waterfalls dropped 40 feet below you.
Jeff crawls through a tight spot.

Chris heads down another rappel.

Untying at the bottom.

Would you trust that rope?

I guess I would, or, maybe you just try not to think about those things.

Focus...focus...focus (the helmet's really just for looks).

Chris checks out another drop off (this must be after the lake I'll mention in a few pictures).
I was a little miffed that the others were boiling water for warm MRE's while I was stuck with my usual PB&J. (Not really.) Actually, I was thankful to have to wait so long for their lunches - it gave enough time (45 mins) for the group ahead of us to trudge through freezeing cold water, only to realize they were going the wrong way - the same way we had intended to go.

There's an infamous spot, called Crotch Lake, for which there are no pictures. For the last bit of the cave, you follow a small stream. Remember the ice waterfall and the ice we were sliding on? Can you guess how cold the water was? Of course, the cave itself wasn't any too warm. Well, I did my best to keep my feet dry by bracing myself across the crevices or climbing up higher. However, once you hit Crotch Lake, there is no choice, but to go as fast as you can and hope you don't get shock or hypothermia. We all found that screaming like little girls helped reduce the pain! Oh, and I'll let you figure out how the lake got its name (and being short was not to my advantage there!)

One of my favorite spots was were we had each taken a different path (to determine which was correct), only to find that we had all gone in circles, but were now on 3 different levels looking down/up at each other. It would be fascinating to understand how the many paths were formed and were the water/ice flow earlier in the season.

Finally, we arrived at the rope we had dropped down earlier. Here we are hoisting each other up and over the cliff. But why is the little guy the anchor...

...pulling up the bigger guys, and the last one up? Actually, it worked out well because then the 5 other guys just pulled me up by the rope. They waited until afterwards to tell me I wasn't anchored into anything (ignorant trust).
...Finally, after 8 hours underground!

Left to Right: Joe, Chris, Jeff, Schuyler, Rick.

Ryan jumps in while Jeff holds the camera.
What a great view!

The perfect ending to an adventerous day - a moose with her baby calf.

So there you have it. I think this adventure ranks just below skydiving and flying a helicopter, and I'm certainly glad I took the opportunity to learn to rappel. But, I'm still leary about not knowing my way around. Maybe next time I'll check the library for a map... Next time?!?