Caving with Westtown School
I met up with Amos, Andy, Marcy, Hanna, and Dave at McDonald’s. The day started out sunny but rain is in the forecast. It wasn’t long till the rain started and the driving was a little less than ideal. Along the way Hillary called and said she’d be meeting us there.
We met up with Michael and the rest of the Westtown gang at a rest stop along the way. We talked a little and introduced ourselves to everyone and they introduced themselves to us. A few of them had been on our trip last year and one had done a little caving up in New York. But most had never been underground before and were looking forward to trying this.
When we got to the cave it was still raining though not as hard. It was enough to make getting changed a little miserable. We suited up and we all met up in the cave entrance where it was just a little drier, we did a check of helmets and headlamps and all the light came on. Onward through the entrance and the first little squeeze. This is always great to see how the newbie’s move and negotiate this. There were a couple helmet issues which were quickly corrected. Up to the top of the Breakdown Room to get adjusted and divide into groups.
We had enough cavers to split up into 4 groups. And off in different direction we went. Hillary and I lead the “slow” group with Michael, Andy, Caleb, and Eli. Caleb and Eli were defiantly not slow and pushed everything we went to too. Caleb and Eli even went around and did a couple more loops while the rest of us were squeezing through.
Later on we met up in the Break Down Room and had lunch and talked. A few wanted to take a personal break and go back to exploring. A few chose to quit for the day. So we regrouped and went in and explored more of the cave.
I think that over all we all saw most of the cave. We coordinated to meet back outside at 4:30 and changed back into our dry and clean cloths. Well and dry and clean as we could for a raining afternoon.
Michael and I talked about doing a more advanced cave for a smaller group of kids who have done this trip a couple times already. Maybe something in the late Fall or Winter.
As always Westtown has great kids with a great sense of adventure. I hope to see them and maybe some new kids next year. You never know, maybe even see a few a Grotto meetings in the future.
Please subscribe to my blog, leave a comment below, and share this with your friends.
Thanks,
Allen
We met up with Michael and the rest of the Westtown gang at a rest stop along the way. We talked a little and introduced ourselves to everyone and they introduced themselves to us. A few of them had been on our trip last year and one had done a little caving up in New York. But most had never been underground before and were looking forward to trying this.
When we got to the cave it was still raining though not as hard. It was enough to make getting changed a little miserable. We suited up and we all met up in the cave entrance where it was just a little drier, we did a check of helmets and headlamps and all the light came on. Onward through the entrance and the first little squeeze. This is always great to see how the newbie’s move and negotiate this. There were a couple helmet issues which were quickly corrected. Up to the top of the Breakdown Room to get adjusted and divide into groups.
We had enough cavers to split up into 4 groups. And off in different direction we went. Hillary and I lead the “slow” group with Michael, Andy, Caleb, and Eli. Caleb and Eli were defiantly not slow and pushed everything we went to too. Caleb and Eli even went around and did a couple more loops while the rest of us were squeezing through.
Later on we met up in the Break Down Room and had lunch and talked. A few wanted to take a personal break and go back to exploring. A few chose to quit for the day. So we regrouped and went in and explored more of the cave.
I think that over all we all saw most of the cave. We coordinated to meet back outside at 4:30 and changed back into our dry and clean cloths. Well and dry and clean as we could for a raining afternoon.
Michael and I talked about doing a more advanced cave for a smaller group of kids who have done this trip a couple times already. Maybe something in the late Fall or Winter.
As always Westtown has great kids with a great sense of adventure. I hope to see them and maybe some new kids next year. You never know, maybe even see a few a Grotto meetings in the future.
Please subscribe to my blog, leave a comment below, and share this with your friends.
Thanks,
Allen
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