I Found Myself in a Cave

Sand crept into my underwear as I crawled on all fours through the narrow, tube-like passageway underground. The water level reached my mid-forearm and mid-thigh. Standing up was an impossibility, while the stream running through it left no space along the sides for a dry path. Somehow the person with the light had gotten way behind me, and I was first in the line of people crawling into the blackness of the bowels of the earth. Placing my hand on a snake or crawdad concerned me, but what was most disconcerting was the fact I was starting to like it.

A friend who is an outdoorsman took a group of us to Carter Cave Resort Park in Kentucky in the early 90s to experience caving, otherwise known as "spelunking" in the United States or "potholing" in the UK. His mindset was that everyone needs to stretch themselves with new, and most certainly difficult, experiences--life changing adventures! On the other hand, my opinion was that squeezing through tight openings and crawling on one's belly inside a dark cave are what nightmares are made of. However, I didn't want to be left out of the get-together!

This cave would be the last one before setting off for home. Up until this point, we had not done anything too daring. The caves included some squeezing and climbing and sometimes the odd bat here and there clinging onto cave walls. My friend had been working us up gradually to bigger things. This cave was to be the "make 'em or break 'em" trial by fire. There I was staring into the darkness wondering what kind of fine mess I'd gotten myself into this time.

Then it happened. My very own Peppermint Patty commercial. I felt exhilarated! The squeamishness evaporated, and I no longer cared how wet, muddy and dirty I was getting. I threw apprehension off me like a fur coat on a hot day. From then on, I crawled with gusto and a smile on my face. This was an experience of a lifetime, and my friend was right. I had overcome my fear and was going away a new person. Many unrelated areas of my life were affected, and I attribute this one experience with more than one breakthrough.

I ended up going caving one other time at Carter Caves which included altogether different experiences. For the second adventure, my friend found a small opening that descended narrowly down and expanded out into a larger cave room. The Carter Cave area is honeycombed with caves that start as tiny openings in the earth. He set up a rappel rope and harnessed each of us up. Down we went in turn about thirty or forty feet to the cave floor. We walked through the passageway which also included an underground stream. Some of the streams outside of the cave were partially frozen at that time of year, so you can imagine that the underground water was extremely cold, too. We had to walk in this water at times, filling our boots. My feet became colder than they had ever been in my life! I thought I would be permanently maimed, but there again, fear broke off of me. I loosened up. The prim little voice in my head that replays all those sensible instructions must have given up for it no longer said a word.

On the way out of the cave, though, I discovered something really important about rappelling. One can only rappel down and not up--and "down" was the easy part. I was ready to be harnessed up and pulled out of the cave, but now that we were down in the hole, the only way up was to free climb with a safety rope attached. Getting out at the top was extremely tricky and required a maneuver around a small overhang of rock. We drew on all the strength we could muster, and that section of the climb took each of us a good deal of time to negotiate. At one point, I even wondered if we all could actually get out. My friend knew we could do it, though, but this was one of those times when I was glad my mother did not know what I was doing. When we finally got out, we had to walk at least a mile back to the car, wet feet and all. But it didn't matter. I had overcome!

Having said that, should everyone run out and explore a cave? Never, unless you have someone experienced to help you! My friend had done this for years, even underwater cave diving, and had the expertise and proper equipment. We also registered our presence with the Carter Cave visitor center so if we did not return, they would know we needed help.

Carter Cave Resort park is located near Olive Hill, Kentucky. You can obtain information here:

Carter Cave Resort Park

So, you really want to try spelunking? The Carter Caves Crawlathon is held annually. You'll find experienced cavers as well as those who have never been caving before at this annual event. Check it out at:

Carter Caves Crawlathon