Encore: Caving with Crew 37 6-1-08
Since Geocities is closing down, I have to move all my trip reports. They are in a sort of blog form, so I'll be moving them over here, one at a time.
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Caving with Crew 37
Crew 37 is new and wanted to use this event as a recruiting effort. Sounds like a good idea. It was a little ruff getting going, but the plans finally came together and we were on our way Sunday morning.
There were four youth members in their group. Apparently four others dropped at the last minute. But two of them were technically new, even though they all knew each other. The Advisor was feeling a little under the weather and while he decided to go on the trip, also thought it would be best for him to stay outside. I think this was a good choice considering the alternative. And Amos, Steve, and I had it all covered anyway.
These four are active and agile so we thought to challenge them accordingly. Steve took the lead and headed through some tight breakdown right away while I took the easy way to get pictures as they emerged. They were well challenged and Steve got a good workout as he got each one over the hidden climb and did it twice himself. Amos swept up the rear in his quiet, effortless way.
Now that they past the first obstacle, they were getting the hang of it and was going to be difficult to keep them from wanting to see the whole cave. Steve and Amos directed them towards the back the back of the cave and challenged them with more climbs and more crawls and they just kept going. What they thought was only about fifteen to twenty minutes was actually an hour and a half as they passed through “Hanes Way” into “Hanging Rock Room”.
I’m still trying to take pictures but it was hard to get them to stay still long enough. They poked through every hole they could find and try to fit through. Even Amos was finding it challenging at times.
Finally got them down through the “Chimney” and into the “Catacombs” were we sat for a moment to eat, drink and rest. Time for a lights out and see just how dark it really is. We passed out the Wint-O-Green lifesavers and Steve explained how it works. And the crunching started and the sparks were glowing and a lot of “ooohs” and “aahs” as they discovered a new trick.
Gotta’ get back up and moving. Went around in a little circle and belly crawled through and back to a main passage. Some were staring to show signs of fatigue so we headed in the general direction of the entrance again, but different than how we came in. Some more climbs and crawls and back into the main breakdown room. Climbed back down and on the way stopped for one more picture.
Randy was still out side and had wondered over to see if he could see or hear anything just as we were coming out. He was feeling a little better but glad he opted to rest and stay outside.
Crew 37 is out of Elverson, PA which is over the hill from were I live in Honey Brook. Randy and I had plenty of opportunity to talk about our perspective Crews and are making plans to combine some efforts and invite each other’s Crew to our own Crew’s activities. A couple of them are excited about caving with Dragon Breath Grotto and the ones who bagged the trip, well it’s their loss on a great trip.
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Crew 37 is new and wanted to use this event as a recruiting effort. Sounds like a good idea. It was a little ruff getting going, but the plans finally came together and we were on our way Sunday morning.
There were four youth members in their group. Apparently four others dropped at the last minute. But two of them were technically new, even though they all knew each other. The Advisor was feeling a little under the weather and while he decided to go on the trip, also thought it would be best for him to stay outside. I think this was a good choice considering the alternative. And Amos, Steve, and I had it all covered anyway.
These four are active and agile so we thought to challenge them accordingly. Steve took the lead and headed through some tight breakdown right away while I took the easy way to get pictures as they emerged. They were well challenged and Steve got a good workout as he got each one over the hidden climb and did it twice himself. Amos swept up the rear in his quiet, effortless way.Now that they past the first obstacle, they were getting the hang of it and was going to be difficult to keep them from wanting to see the whole cave. Steve and Amos directed them towards the back the back of the cave and challenged them with more climbs and more crawls and they just kept going. What they thought was only about fifteen to twenty minutes was actually an hour and a half as they passed through “Hanes Way” into “Hanging Rock Room”.
I’m still trying to take pictures but it was hard to get them to stay still long enough. They poked through every hole they could find and try to fit through. Even Amos was finding it challenging at times.Finally got them down through the “Chimney” and into the “Catacombs” were we sat for a moment to eat, drink and rest. Time for a lights out and see just how dark it really is. We passed out the Wint-O-Green lifesavers and Steve explained how it works. And the crunching started and the sparks were glowing and a lot of “ooohs” and “aahs” as they discovered a new trick.
Gotta’ get back up and moving. Went around in a little circle and belly crawled through and back to a main passage. Some were staring to show signs of fatigue so we headed in the general direction of the entrance again, but different than how we came in. Some more climbs and crawls and back into the main breakdown room. Climbed back down and on the way stopped for one more picture.
Randy was still out side and had wondered over to see if he could see or hear anything just as we were coming out. He was feeling a little better but glad he opted to rest and stay outside.
Crew 37 is out of Elverson, PA which is over the hill from were I live in Honey Brook. Randy and I had plenty of opportunity to talk about our perspective Crews and are making plans to combine some efforts and invite each other’s Crew to our own Crew’s activities. A couple of them are excited about caving with Dragon Breath Grotto and the ones who bagged the trip, well it’s their loss on a great trip.
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