Trouble With An Unpredictably Wet Cave

We were at the BSA Northeastern Region Area 6 weekend event fondly referred to as “Phenomenon”. And it was a phenomenon. I’ll go into that in another post. I wanted to share what happened on the way home.

Keeping The Caving Tradition
Just as I did last year, I wanted to stop and do a little caving on my way home from the Phenomenon. It was a little closer to home this year, being only about three hours down the PA Turnpike. There are so many opportunities and choices in caves in this area. I had a tough time deciding where to go. Since I didn’t want to get home too late on a Sunday night I didn’t want to go off too far from the Turnpike and it should be on the way home. That means the Shippensburg / Chambersburg area would be where I look.

There are a couple caves I haven’t been in a while and that my friends had not been in at all. So I had to choose. There is one cave that is open access, but the water level is a little unpredictable. Last time I was in there was about two years ago with my Grandson. The water was low then. The level had been up and down a few times since then and I hadn’t heard a report in a while.

So Let’s Take a Chance And See
I had Damian, Gretchen and Gretchen’s friend, Kathryn Harris, with me in the Grand Cherokee. Bill LaPort was driving himself and we met up with Ron Hesse and his son Ryan at the Walmart in Shippensburg. We did get to our final destination and parking location and suited up for the cave.

As I’m pulling out the “loaner gear”, Bill let’s me know he has his own helmet and light and doesn’t need to borrow anything. It makes me happy when someone has had such a great time caving that they make the commitment and start buying their own gear. Ryan and Ron are pretty well equipped, except for the helmet and light. Kathryn needs to borrow some other gear which we tailor to her with duct tape.

There is this long crawl that you have to do to get to the real entrance to the cave. Everyone does well and there’s just a little standing water in the tube. I’m first, with everyone behind me as I look for clues to the height of the water level and if we will make it into the main part of the cave. A frog scampers out and dives in what water is standing, stirring up the mud to hide. We all keep move down the passage waiting to see what’s beyond the final turn.

High Water or Low Water?
We arrive at the “duck under” and the level is low. Not dry, but low enough to comfortably pass. We all crawl through dipping into the cold cave water. I come out into the “Junction Room” and the water is just below the top of my rubber boots. I was OK, but those with regular boots were really wet by now and starting to chill.

Damian doesn’t hold his heat well and he recognizes a potential problem with hypothermia with himself. Letting everyone know that he does not want to spoil the trip, he made the tough decision to back out now before it gets really bad.
The rest started exploring a few small passages. I point them into the direction of a decorated section that is still a little dry. It was nice to get out of the water and mud for a few moments. When they had their fill I sent them down another long, tight crawl that they wanted to try.

Off they went into the mud with the promise of “pretties” at the end of this demanding squeeze. Well, all but Bill and I. Listening I hear them coming back. Laughing and joking about how they probably looked all caked in the slop. One by one they pop out of the passage covered head to toe in very wet mud. Back to the “Junction Room” we went to regroup and reassess ourselves and decide where to go next.

Once there Gretchen told me that even with the vigorous scramble back to the room she was feeling cold. She was thinking of calling it a day for herself. Ryan and Kathryn, the newbies, were a little cold too, but wanted to move on. I took my cue from Gretchen, who has a few caves on her resume, and called it quits for the day. It would not be good to get to the back of the cave only to get hypothermic and have a twenty minute crawl to get out. I’d rather have them wanting more and come caving again than become cold and miserable and never want to set foot in any cave again.

The Promise Of MudAfter we all exited the cave we took the mandatory “look how muddy we are” pictures. And were they ever muddy. Just as I promised, mud all the way to your skin. Getting changed was interesting as it was cold and raining a little. We took turns in the cars getting warm dry cloths on and trying to get some of the mud off our faces and out of our hair. We were all cold, tired and hungry.
Bill found a pizza joint on his GPS, asked and confirmed with a local it was a good choice for food. Ron and Ryan had other obligations and we saw them off and we went and ate and talked and ate and talked some more. I was concerned about my choice of caves for this group of beginners. After listening to them talk and joke about all they did I asked Kathryn and Bill if they would do this again. No hesitation from either. They were ready to go underground and do it some more.

Now I have a few more people on my “list”. Let’s see what I can put them through next.
To see more pictures from the trip, take a look at the photo album.

Join me on Twitter @youcave. Check us out on Face Book and Google+. And share us with your friends. If you ask a question in the comment section I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.


Cave Safely, Cave Softly, Cave Often,
Allen
“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but well placed footsteps, kill nothing but time.” – cavers’ creed

Going To The BSA Northeastern Region Area 6 Venturing Phenomenon 2013

On Our Way
Well, in a few days. We're still planning nad packing and everyone is excited about this trip. In central PA a couple hundred kids will be joining together to meet old friends, make new frineds and share what they enjoy doing.


Remember Last Year's Phenomenon?
No??? Well then, check it out.. Yes, we are taking the squeeze box again. Thanks Gina for inviting us. With as much fun as I had running this and talking to a mess of new Venturers about caving, I'm kind of glad I'm only doing it a half day. I get to walk around in the afternoon and check out what other Crews brought with them and see what they do for fun.

Who Me??
Again this year Bill LaPort and Barb Grover, from Crew 94, are coordinating the contingent Venturing Crew from Chester County Council, BSA. This frees me up to just getting the box and a few kids safely there and back again. I can do that.

The Day After Trip,
And of course, just like last year, we're doing a little caving on the way home. But you'll have to wait to hear about that.

Hopefully, if I get cell reception, I'll be tweeting during the weekend. Join me at @youcave. Check us out on Face Book and Google+. And share us with your friends. If you ask a question in the comment section I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.


Cave Safely, Cave Softly, Cave Often,
Allen
“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but well placed footsteps, kill nothing but time.” – cavers’ creed

We Took Troop 56 Caving, and Why I Had So Much Fun

My Apprehension

It had been almost two and a half months since I had done any caving at all. Amos covered for me on one scheduled trip and I canceled another because of a back injury that crept up and snatched away my ability to do physical activities without extreme pain. My wife and friends kept asking me, “Are you sure your up to doing this?” To tell you the truth I kept asking myself this question right up to the morning of the trip.

I wasn't 100% healed, but enough that a good dose of anti-inflammatory would get me through the day. Andy was going to be with me and that help relieve a lot of my anxiety about this trip.

Planning With the Troop

I had stopped by a Troop meeting a few weeks prior to the trip to talk to them about caves and caving. These talks are also one of my favorite activities. There must have been at least 20 boys from all ages of the Troop listening to me talk about spelology and safe caving techniques. I kept thinking, are they all planning on going caving? At the end of the cave talk I talked to the adults and senior Scouts. Maybe 4 or 5 kids met the BSA age limit of at least 14 years old and were going. They thought it would be good for all the boys to hear the cave talk. I couldn't agree more. There were a few kids who were right with me through the whole talk. They answered questions and participated in conversations.

They did have a challenge with getting adults from the Troop to go. Since I am a BSA volunteer myself, it was easy just to count me into their required adults going on the trip.

Back to the day of the trip I was psyched up to get underground. We met at our favorite McDonald's and carpooled out to the cave. Andy brought a friend of his with him. This was Bill's first caving trip. Andy claimed him to be an accomplished rock climber, so I wasn't too worried. Later on I saw how well Bill worked and related to the kids. This was a real pleasant surprise. Not many adults relate with new kids right out the gate, much less with a new adventure sport.

Kids Take To Caving

One thing I have learned from running trips like these is that people either love caving or hate it. Usually it all depends on their experience on the trip. Each individual's abilities plays into this, too. Looking at the pictures I hope you an get a glimpse of what the outcome of this trip was.

Starting with James, I was a little concerned. He was younger and not as athletic as the others. He had a little difficulty with a climb. I thought this was going to discourage him right from the start. I asked him to back track and I would meet him back at the first room and show him the “easier” way that I took (remember I'm still nursing a bad back). The oldest Scout, Austin, jumped up to the plate and offered to go with him so he wasn't doing any passage by himself. This worked out fantastically.

The next squeeze Andy and Bill took them through was the “Wishing Well”. Just watch the video to get the point of it. This is where I found out that Jake has a little issue with claustrophobia. Austin, Ben and Daniel went through the squeeze. Jake, James and I took the, sort of, walking passage around to meet them.

Andy lead us around a few other climbs and squeezes. We visited the “Catacombs” via the “Chimney” and went “Off the Map” and back again. We wondered over to the “Key Hole” and only James and I bowed out of this, but I was still able to give him a challenge. Check out the video of this one too.

We were about two hours and forty five minutes into the trip. My back was getting tired and a couple of the boys were too. We opted to call it a day and head on out to the exit.

It was a lot colder outside the cave than inside. The boys granted me the obligatory “muddy” picture and we walked to were we parked the cars. It was just starting to drizzle when we got there. By the time we were in the middle of getting changed it was full blown hail pelting us as tried to get dressed, dry and warm. What a memory maker.

Post Trip Grub Out

We stopped to have dinner on the way home. This is the part where I get to talk to the kids and get some feedback. I just wanted to point out a few observations I had, and what made this such a fun trip for me.

Daniel is the younger brother of Alex, who is a valuable member of my crew. This was his first real caving trip. Sorry you didn't make this trip Alex. You would have been proud. He did all the climbs and squeezes his big sister does.

Ben, I think, just got a kick out of getting muddy, and it was all OK to do this. His first trip too and he did great. Never lost his sense of humor. He even named a rock feature "Eagle Rock". He explained how he saw the eagle in the feature, now that's stuck in my head forever.

James, I thought, was going to be the kid that hated it and never wanted to go caving again. Boy was I wrong. He took every challenge in stride and did progressively better as the day went on. He probably had the most mud on him, but he was very cool with that. One might say proud of his warrior mud painted face.

Remember Jake claimed to have issues with claustrophobia? Did you check him coming out of the “Key Hole”? Yup, he's hooked. I wonder what he was telling his friends at school that week?

I think Austin thought we were going to be doing some easy walking passages. HA. He had a blast and I'm putting him on my “call list”. Hopefully he'll come out and learn a little about being a cave guide. He'd be good at it. It would be good to have him on my crew.

Actually any of these guys have that potential. They accepted the challenges that were presented to them with a smile. They all grew a little more well deserved attitude that day too.

Check out the whole photo album of this trip here. You can also see the other videos, "Part 1" and "Part 3".

Please subscribe to the YOUCave email list. Tweet us at @youcave. Check us out on Face Book and Google+. And share us with your friends. If you ask a question in the comment section I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks,

Allen

“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but well placed footsteps, kill nothing but time.” – cavers’ creed

Boy Scout Troop 67 Goes Spelunking

Starting to Plan the Caving Trip
Back in November, Dean Coffin from Boy Scout Troop 67 of Wilmington, DE, contacted me about getting Troop 67 on a caving trip. They were looking at Wind Cave on December 15th for the trip. It is a little short notice, but I thought it would be possible to pull off.

I don’t usually take Troops and Crews to Wind Cave for their first caving trip because it does get a lot of local “spelunkers” and vandals and it’s not a good example of a typical Pennsylvania Cave. If you can get past the graffiti and trash it is a fun cave to play in. It has a variety of climbs and squeezes that can challenge most beginners. As a tectonic cave it is a good example of this particular and unique geological classification of cave.

The up side is that it is close enough to Wilmington the group from Troop 67 could cave in the morning and be back for afternoon activities with the rest of the Troop. This meant me getting up early to collect cavers from Dragon Breath Grotto and get to the cave entrance by 9:00 AM. I’m not a morning person, but I was willing to pretend for today.

By 9:00 AM we were suiting up and started walking up the trail to the cave entrance. We were a little behind schedule, but Troop 67 didn’t waste any of the time they were there. While waiting they canvassed the outside area of the cave, in typical Boy Scout style, and picked up a large trash bag full of trash. It’s great when Troops just jump in and take care of a situation that needs to be done.

Getting inside Wind Cave
We talked for a little while we distributed the helmets and lights. The Troop split themselves into two groups. Amos led one group with Damian and Katrina and I led the other with Gretchen. This cave is big enough we can go in at the same time, head into two different directions, and not get in each other’s way for a couple hours. Our group did really well. We did a little climbing and eventually got to the “Basement” of the cave. Gretchen wanted to take the challenge of going through the “Sub Basement” and one of the Scouts took the challenge as well. It is tight and can be confusing on which direction to go, but they did it and came out the other side tired.

We retraced some of our route and explored another section of the cave. Instead of going back to the main entrance we went out one of the other entrances which is more challenging.

Amos, Damian and Katrina’s group was not out yet. But a short time later we heard a voice holler from one of the other entrances. We all gathered there and watched as each one of the newbie cavers struggled and exited the cave.

These guys were great. They worked well together and had a sense of adventure. They took every obstacle we threw at them and turned it into a game. We took more pictures, collected up the helmets and lights and said goodbye to the Troop as they hiked back down the trail to their cars.

Cleaning Up the Cave
Now it was time for some more fun, I mean work. The cave was trashed with bottles, cans and other debris carted in by people and it needed a quick clean up. We went back in and picked up as much of the trash as we could find. While in there we ran into a group of spelunkers. They were not well equipped but they understood and appreciated what we were doing. It was nice to chat with them while we all picked up discarded candles, cans and broken bottles. Amos and Gretchen managed to get down into some of the smaller cracks and pull trash out that looked like it had been in there a while.

When we exited with our full trash bag we noticed the NSS sign that is suppose to be at the main entrance to the cave was missing. Another thing we should to think about fixing in the future. We will be back to clean Wind Cave up again and try to educate folks about the importance of caves and this one in particular.

To see more pictures you can go to the Troop 67 photo album here (Troop 67 pictures.). You can also see my photo album here.

Please subscribe to the YOUCave email list. Tweet us at @youcave. Check us out on Face Book and Google+. And share us with your friends. If you ask a question in the comment section I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks,

Allen

“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but well placed footsteps, kill nothing but time.” – cavers’ creed

JSS at NSS Convention 2013

I’m going to be helping with the Junior Speleological Society program during the NSS Convention this year. In addition to all the great caving trips there have been a lot of good activities over the years. The themed trips like “Caving with the President” have been popular. The “Early Bird Science” programs and “Vertical Instruction and Practice” were also popular. There were also non-caving events like the JSS BBQ, the Swim Party, Movie Night, and an assortment of day hikes and trips.



1999 Schedule



2000 Schedule



2001 Schedule




2002 Schedule



2003 Schedule

2004 Schedule

2005 Schedule

2006 Schedule

2007 Schedule

2008 Schedule

I would like to hear from those who have participated in any of these programs. I would like to know what your one favorite activity was. Just pick one, if you can. The one activity you are really looking forward to doing again. If your kids are not on the list, please ask them and reply here for them. What was it that made it your favorite activity? Even if they are no longer a kid but had a great experience at JSS years ago. What did you get out of it or bring away from it?

I’m looking forward to hearing input especially from the kids. It’s their program. I’d like to see them participate and enjoy their week at Convention 2013.

A Bright Idea For Caving

Cavers' Headlamps
Philip Rykwalder wrote an excellent review on caver headlamps on his blog post for Cave Now (http://cavenow.com/?p=1401). I’d like to invite you to read this before you read my post here. I’ll wait…..

You Get What You Pay For
Philip does cover a wide range of lamps in his article. The high end ones are generally for cavers who do cave a lot. Yes they are expensive, but they do last. In the long run they are not that much more expensive than other cheaper lights by the time you start replacing them. There is this notion that light is important while in the cave. It is considered necessary life support of equipment. If it fails you have a big problem. Reliability is very important. You do want a light that will not fail for the duration of your trip. You want to be able to see well for the whole of the trip.

What Can You Afford to Pay For?
If you are a first time caver or supplying a dozen lights to a youth group for a trip are you going to be able or willing to spend this kind of money? Maybe not. The mid range lights are good for this purpose. Youth Groups will be going in mostly easier caves for shorter duration trips than the avid caver. You may not need 10 hours of dependable light. But don’t go too cheap.
A cheap light will have inherited problems because of it’s construction and design. Lower lumens means that maybe it’s good for watching where your feet and hands go, but much more than 20 feet and you’ll have difficulty seeing things. If you’re in a room that’s 50 feet across and just as high, you will not be able to see your route out of that room. Poor design may not reflect a wide enough beam to see what’s ahead of you, at your feet and sides at the same time. This tunnel vision effect is disturbing and promotes claustrophobia while performing tasks like climbing a large breakdown. The housing and electronics may not endure the harsh cave environment. If you bang it on a wall or ceiling is it going to break or hold up? If you accidently get dunked is it going to short out and die while you’re climbing back up a muddy slope?
Yes you may only want something for your first 3 hour caving trip, but that light could make the difference between an exciting adventure and a miserable experience.

If you are a youth group leader, don’t risk your kids welfare on a $15 convenience store flashlight. If you can't buy then borrow or rent at least a mid range headlamp. If your Grotto is buying a stash of lights for beginners or youth groups, buy lights that you are not going to have to replace every other trip.

How Many?
And remember to always carry at least 3 independent sources of light with at lease one mounted to your helmet. With any one of these three light sources you should be able to see enough to exit the cave.

Please subscribe to the YOUCave email list. Tweet us at @youcave. Check us out on Face Book and Google+. And share us with your friends. If you ask a question in the comment section I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks,

Allen

“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but well placed footsteps, kill nothing but time.” – cavers’ creed

The Young Cavers’ Challenge

What To Do With Kids That Outgrow Thier Sandbox
Dragon Breath Grotto Venturing Crew 9 is a caving focused Venturing Crew. I’ve been taking these kids caving for a while now. We’ve hit just about every beginner cave with them that we can get into. They have been very helpful when we take other Boy Scout Troops and Venturing Crews underground. But I think they are capable of doing so much more. I want to challenge them to stretch their caving skills and see what more will open up to them if they push themselves. I needed to find a cave that we would enjoy and test them. Frankly, they’re flexibility, endurance, ability to climb and squeeze was surpassing my own. I needed to make sure they were with experienced cavers that were far better than I am and can push them further than I can.

Calling Out the Big Dogs
I consulted with my friends from Philly Grotto, Amos Mincin and Andy Field. There is a cave out near Lewistown, PA that might fit the bill. They both have been throughout this cave. They’ve been in places in this cave that I’ve not been able to get to yet. So I presented this idea to Catie and Alex. I told them about the challenges they would face. The one big challenge was getting the trip to reality. They needed to pick a date that they both would be available. As Catie was away at college this needed to be over a school break and still make sure Amos, Andy and I are available and we can get permission to enter the cave.

After about a month of planning and going back and forth on dates we finally had it pulled together. January 5, 2013 was going to be the day for a great caving trip.

The More the Better
Meanwhile we had a couple other kids climbing up in caving ability. Gretchen had only been on a few trips but showed more than enough natural abilities. Damian was getting better and better with each trip. We decided to bring them along. Catie asked to bring Peter along too. She said he was accomplished in rock climbing and other outdoor high adventure activities. At a Philly Grotto meeting Andy suggested that Gianni come along too. He’s a very accomplish caver and would be an asset on this trip. Now we had a good crew of cavers ready to get underground.

Let's Go Caving
The day of the trip was normal. We all met up in the morning to carpool out to the cave. Everyone was eager to get going. We made the two hour drive to where we would park to go to the cave. The ground was snow covered and it was cold. Getting suited up went quick and we tramped on down to the cave gate.

Andy had it unlocked by the time I arrived and Amos and Catie were already inside. One at a time Peter, Gretchen, Damian, Alex, Gianni and Andy entered. I was last and locked the gate behind us. Underground at last. As I descended down the slop the stable cave temperate of 55 was warming me up. It had been over a year since I was in this cave and I forgot how much I enjoyed its challenges.
I wanted to document this trip as much as I possibly could. I tried an assortment of cameras for this. I had a helmet cam, a pocket video camera, my old digital still camera and my iPhone in a protected case. With as much as I test this equipment before hand something always quits working. The digital still camera must have reached the end of life on the ride there. It just did not want to take pictures. Later on I found out how poorly the helmet cam works underground. It’s difficult to aim and needs a lot of light. Being cheap doesn’t help either as the sound just did not work well at all. But I did get some pictures from my iPhone and pocket video camera. At least I had something.

What They Got To Do
We got to play on “the slide” and in the hole at the bottom of the slide. Climbing out was fun. Peter and Catie I was not keeping up with at all. Alex and Gretchen I saw every once in a while. Damian was doing better than I thought he would be able to do. I was so impressed with all of them and thankful I had Andy, Amos and Gianni there to guide, teach and help them push their limits safely.
At one point I handed my pocket video cam to Alex because I knew I was not going to be able to go where they were headed. I wanted some pictures of what they were doing.

Pictures to Prove It
The videos can be found on YouTube here, here, here, here and here. Please rate them and leave a comment. And of couse the stills are here. 

Headin' Out
Damian and I were the first to exit the cave. Tired, cold and wet we changed and started warming up in the car while we waited for the others. But we didn't wait long when right after us Gretchen and Gianni were walking up the hill. Gretchen was exhausted but grinning ear to ear and covered in mud. Then moments later Andy, Amos, Peter, Catie and Alex walked up through the trees. They too were tired but energized by the trip.
We stopped at our normal pizza place, devoured three large pies and talked and talked. They all seemed to have a great time and wanted to do it again, later of course. So we need to find another cave they would enjoy. Maybe over another school break we can get them all together again. Sounds like a good plan to me.

Please subscribe to the YOUCave email list. Tweet us at @youcave. Check us out on Face Book and Google+. And share us with your friends. If you ask a question in the comment section I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks,

Allen

“Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but well placed footsteps, kill nothing but time.” – cavers’ creed