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I clipped my harness into the descending line, braced my feet against the edge and looked at the 200 foot pitch black pit below me. The only reason why I knew it was a 200 foot decent was because the national park service guide told me – my headlamp didn’t reach that far! This “Wild [tag]Cave[/tag] Tour” of [tag]Mammoth Caves National Park[/tag] was a little bit more than I had signed up for. I was getting nervous and more than a little hungry. We’d been in the cave nearly 6 hours. It didn’t help that the world-class women cavers Charlene and Rachelle behind me, smiling, but tapping their feet with impatience. I took a deep breath, and stepped off the edge, and slowly and carefully began the decent even lower into the [tag]Mammoth Cave[/tag] system.

Well, that’s not exactly what happened. But those were the kinds of thoughts that were going through my head as I watched my fellow cavers, a group of 11 Canadian high school seniors and their two teachers, navigate the features of the very challenging “Wild Cave Tour”. The tour goes off the main “wimpy” trails of the park, navigating through caving features with such names as “The Hell Hole,” “The Cheese Grater”, “Bear Hole,” and my favorite “Hooter’s Passage.” I wasn’t too sure about heading down into the abyss never having been put into such position before. Except for skipping the final crawl “No Name,” I think I did pretty well. It’s not that “No Name” was any longer or tighter than any of the things we had done, but as the last guy in the group, being stuck behind all those climbers just set off too many alarm bells and was too much like being … gasp … trapped.

Much of the historical section of the cave was closed to regular tours because of construction, and I was a little let down by the “Frozen Niagara” tour. Out of 370 miles of mapped cave, this tour covered about ¾ of a mile. I had to find a way to get on the “Wild Cave Tour,” a much longer and more intense trip. But a school had purchased all 14 of the tickets for the day. By sheer luck, they had one extra. Maybe it was my calm and masculine demeanor, maybe it was the way I groveled and begged, but I got the ticket and was, temporarily, back in 12th grade on the best field trip ever.

That isn’t to say that the trip was all fun and games. When the rangers couldn’t get the water-damaged door to the cave open, we were forced to wait until maintenance arrived. Then after they took a crack, we boarded buses, presumably to work the tour backwards, in hope that the door would be open by the time we got there. But we lucked out, the door finally gave way and Jackie and Taylor the rangers (they’re cool, ask for them by name), descended down a man-made passage into the cave.

It was dark, excepting the feeble light our LED headlamps provided. It was cool (about 54 degrees F year-round) and slightly damp and dusty. No bats, but crickets and [tag]spiders[/tag] enough to keep any bug lover happy and any bug hater on edge. I (was) volunteered to take the end of the line, watching for stragglers, and getting a good chance to see the bottoms of everyone’s boots. I also got plenty of opportunity to let my mind wander while watching the group navigate the crawls, climbs and pits. I tried to imagine what it would be like to be the first explorers of the cave, heading down new passages, seeing if you could navigate a tight passage without getting stuck… trapped… wedged…OK, change the subject, brain.

Interspersed with some long hiking sections reminiscent of dinking around Joshua Tree at night (and then adding several thousand tons of rock above you), were the crawls. Some of the passages were tight (like Bear Hole); you couldn’t turn your head once you got into them. Some were complex like the Manhole, taking time to ascend. Some, like Hell Hole, were just long, hot and dusty. But they were all challenging, and when you come right down to it, pretty straightforward. The challenge was far more mental than physical, although I was as tired as anyone climbing back into the sunlight and on the bus. Yeah, and no rapelling – really.

The group of near-adults (not quite kids) was really fun to be with. It brought back memories of my high school years – homework, tests, college applications, who’s-seeing-who, you-should-really-ask-out-Christine, sports, etc. Being all classmates, they lent a sense of camaraderie that would have been missing would the group been made up of a few random families. The rousing rendition of the Canadian National Anthem in Cathedral dome was most impressive. I appreciate the time I spent with them, and I wish Charlene, Kelley, Mark, Matt, Miller, Scott, Mandy, Natasha, Rachelle, Sarah, Mr. G, and Mr. Bush (who’d I miss and screw up?) the best. I give everyone permission to miss school on Monday – just don’t miss the test on Tuesday.

Sorry, but I didn’t bring my new camera on the wild tour, instead I took my trusty my old Pentax. But enjoy the few photos anyway. I plan on backpacking tomorrow, so they’ll be a few more above ground photos later. But, after this, I’m headed off to Hot Springs NP in Arkansas, then north, way north, to Isle Royale on the Canadian Border. Later, dudes!

Total distance covered: 5 miles. Total time below ground: 6 hours

[ed. First revision of this post had the ranger's names wrong, as well as Rachelle and Charlene's.]
[tags]Wild Cave Tour[/tags]