Caving with Troop 106

December is a tough time of the year to organize a caving trip. Holiday parties and family gatherings take precedence. But it does make a nice brake and distraction from finals, school, and work.

Steve, Amos, and I were there from Dragon Breath Grotto to take members of Troop 106 from Paoli caving. We meet them at a rest stop in central Pennsylvania. They had originally predicted 16 members going but had dwindled down to eight hardy souls to brave the cold weather today.
When we arrived at the cave we suited up and distributed the helmets and headlamps. We entered the gate and talked a little about the cave and what to expect. They divided themselves into two groups. Amos lead one group and Steve lead the other as they headed into different parts of the cave.
It also happened that there was a group from Franklin County Grotto there that day as well. They were taking a couple new cavers in as well. We crossed paths every once in a while, but for the most part the groups were separated by sight and sound.

After a few hours and few from Steve’s group wanted to take a short break and get something to eat. This is usually the sign of the end of the trip. But a few from this group wanted to go back in again. Amos’s group had exited the cave earlier and some from that group had re-entered as well. Eventually we all met up and poked in some areas that we don’t usually look into. These guys were curious and patient enough to want to explore.
When you’re underground time tends to get away from you and as usual we realized it was 4:30 and we had better start heading out.

All in all we were underground almost 5 hours. These last diehards were energetic and wanted to get their fill of caving. I think they did. They were a great group of kids and I hope to see them underground again someday.

For more pictures of this trip go here.