GOING UNDERGROUND

Well.....after spending a week with the cavers of the NSS I knew the only way to close out the week was to have my own underground adventure. So I took up an invitation by Wyandotte Cave tour guide Cassi Binkley to go on a crawling tour of Wyandotte Cave in Southern Indiana along Highway 62 near Leavenworth.

The group Cassi would be touring was from a girls camp from Cincinnati, Indiana ranging in age from 16 to 19 years old. Their camp counselor, however, was from Liverpool, England and yes she said, "The home of the Beatles." We got a little bit of a late start and the air was warming up quite a bit but once we got underground the air temp of about 55 degrees felt very good. The first part was walking through one of the larger tunnels but it wasn't long before we got to our first interesting squeeze.

It's called The Animal Pit and is about a 20 foot drop. I had taken this trip one other time but I must admit it was my first trip into the pit. There's a bit of a squeeze to get to a ladder that is handily near the top but you still have to watch your step as you can make a little slip and bop your head on the way down. But overall it's not bad. I apologize for the picture not being better but I forgot about the bill on the crash hat I was wearing overunning the camera's flash. The hat, however, would prove its usefullness later on.

Following the drop into the pit came a very narrow passageway for about 30 yards or so. I must also admit to a little poundage since my last time here so it was a bit of a squeeze for me to get through it...and a little slower. I did drop off to the side to get a few pictures of some of the girls squeezing their way through the tunnel. When they all went by me then I pushed my backpack in front of me to come out into a larger room where the others were waiting. Caving is in a way the same as hiking only you're underground. You still have to have some of same items as you might carry on a hiking trip, water, food, first aid kit. You have to have a good light and a backup light is a must in case your main light goes out. Trying to find your way out of a hole like this can be pretty much impossible and you can find yourself falling into a hole so deep you might not hit the bottom.

We came up one one of Cassi's favorite spots on this particular trip, which by the way is the route to the Pillar of Constitution. At this particular spot there is bit of a slide you can save a few steps on. I took the lower route through a tunnel to the other side so I could get pictures of the girls at recess. This was one of the more enjoyable spots as they got to have a little fun on this one. Of course Cassi had take a different approach to the whole thing when she did a headfirst slide.

A little later Cassi took a few of the girls through another narrow passage while I took a detour to catch them coming out on the other side. Cassi has been caving for about 10 years now and if there's a hole she can crawl through you'll probably find her in it somewhere. She told me she hasn't got around to mastering the vertical parts of the sport yet but plans to learn that later so she can get into some of the best caves in the country. One thing is for sure. She was having fun getting dirty on this trip.

Some of the other girls found the squeeze game a little more challenging, however, and some found it very intimidating and talked about how they'd rather be back outside. But with a little coaxing from both Cassi and myself they pushed on. Following that bit of tunneling we started a series of ups and downs up and over several large hills. They were also pretty steep and could give you a few problems if you didn't watch yourself. (The picture at the beginning of this post is one of them.) There was a lot of breakdown rocks on some of these hills and you had to watch your step. You also had to watch for rocks you might be knocking loose.

One of those rocks did cause a problem. I looked up to see a rock about the size of a golf ball whiz about a foot past my head. Not two seconds later it went by the girl behind me and missed. The girl behind her, however, wasn't quite as lucky as the chunk of limestone caught on the bridge of her nose right between the eyes. Needless to say she was stunned and dazed somewhat. The injury itself was minor but could have been much worse had it hit her in eye. Like a trooper, however, she continued on. Another problem came a few minutes later as another girl sat down and froze up, saying she was going no farther. It took a good 15 minutes to coax her into moving on to the Pillar room, which was only a few yards away, but finally she was moving again and we were on our way. We had one more small squeeze through a place called Saddle Rock. Cassi, meanwhile, took an even small route and came out a side tunnel.

This picture here does in no way give justice to the room which holds the Pillar of Constitution. As you can see by the scale with the girls the room is very large and the Pillar, which I did not get all of, stands about 30 feet tall. It's a place you really have to be there to get the full pleasure of. After spending several minutes there we worked our way back toward the entrance. Two of the girls had really gotten into the whole caving thing and stayed step for step with Cassi through whichever tunnel she crawled into. On our way out we met another larger group going in. I'm sure somewhere in that bunch would be a caver like the two with Cassi, ready for the underground.