Cave Exploring With Troop 4014 6-21-2022
Hi YOUCave friends. I’m Allen and I’m going to tell you about a cave exploring trip with Troop 4014.
This can be a big Troop. I took them caving in June of 2019. I have the pictures and video of that trip somewhere. When I find them I’ll post them and where they can be found.
Like I said, this is a big Troop and my plan was to divide them in half and run two cave exploring trips for them, in one day.
We got the first group all suited up and ready to go into the cave. This is when I introduced them to someone else who would be caving with us. They had no name, no caving experience, and the boys were responsible for them the entire trip. They decided to name him
Bartholomew. Bart was easier to say. Three rules were, that Bart had to be handled by every person at some point on the trip, he had to be in as many pictures as possible, and he had to come out of the cave in one piece.
Group 1 entered the cave through the gate and had a refresher on LNT and the Cavers’ Creede, as well as other expectations. I explained the first obstacle we had to pass and onward we went. You really need to watch the video to appreciate this part.
We climbed up into the Breakdown Room and talked a little about why this is a maze cave and the advantages and disadvantages of this type of cave. We opted to go through the side shimmy passage and take a look at the Wishing Well. They looked at it, but, no one wanted to try.
My goal was to get to the belly crawl passage. We had to go through a couple large holes and went down the chimney to the lower level. After a while, we were sitting in front of the crawly passage. Once everyone was in the same room I started head first into the long belly crawl. I’m having a blast with these kids as they crawl in the mud and do things they hadn’t thought they’d be doing. They, one by one, crawl out of that passage to a walking canyon passage. The last one out was Allison. She gave me the news that the adults didn’t go through. I had to go around the mazey passages to bring them up another way. While I was doing that, Allison was in charge of the boys. She kept them together, safe, and occupied till I got there.
We went through a couple other rooms and eventually exited the cave without any problems. I was starting to get tired, but I had another group to take inside.
Group 2 entered the same way with the same rituals This time instead of going to the top of the Breakdown Room we cut off through another passage. One of the adults was having issues with his leg and he opted to exit instead of becoming a potential rescue.
I took this group on a different route. Heading down a passage I showed them an obstacle called The Key Hole. There were a few who wanted to try including Allison. I took the rest through The Rabbit Hole to get to the other side of the Key Hole where I was able to get some great videos of the kids coming out of that passage.
We were all in what is called Hanging Rock Room. It’s a big canyon filled with little side passages that are great for these guys to play in and go exploring. This is one of the reasons I love this cave for these types of trips.
Overall each group played in the cave for over two hours and finally exited. Both groups did different routes and both groups did great. And, we barely saw a half of the cave. Plenty more places to discover next time.
And Bartholomew made it out in one piece. He was covered in mud but in one piece. The Troop decided to adopt him and give him a home.
If you are curious about how to take your group cave exploring, send me an email at allenmaddox@youcave.org.
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Cave Safely, Cave Softly, Cave Often,
Allen
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