And now for the highlight of the day: Wild Caving!
Are you claustrophobic? Overweight? In poor overall health? You will want to avoid the Wild Caving tour.
Me? I'm all over 'dat! Wild Caving was my chance to be a spelunker, if only for the next four hours. So, I waved farewell to Ma, and I was off on an adventure!
Our guide for the tour was Sam. He's a burly, jovial fellow. I wondered how he was going to squeeze through the openings we were promised. It's probably not surprising that most spelunkers are women. It just makes sense, size-wise. But Sam was a professional. He managed just fine.
In general, caves maintain the average annual temperature of the earth above them. That means caves beneath Custer, South Dakota, should maintain an average temperature of 47 degrees. Jewel Cave, which we will visit tomorrow, does this. But Wind Cave does not. I mentioned earlier that Wind Cave maintains a constant temperature of 53 degrees. It is believed that Wind Cave sits atop some sort of geothermal activity which heats the cave an extra six degrees. Even with the added warmth, the cave is still pretty chilly. I wore a sweatshirt, T-shirt, and sweatpants while I was wild caving. I also wore my goatskin leather gloves. (I love them! I wouldn't work in my garden without them.) The kneepads, helmet, and flashlight were provided.
The place we were going was not lighted. We were each required to carry three independent sources of light. The first two were located on our helmet: a main head lamp and an auxiliary head lamp. The third was a pen light slung around our necks and stuffed down our shirts.
Our first task was to learn what we were doing. When you go caving, it is important to maintain at least three points of contact with the cave at all times. That could mean two feet and a hand. Or two hands and a butt. Or a shoulder, an elbow, and a helmet. You get the idea. It's very easy to lose your balance and crush a delicate million-year-old cave formation.
Sam taught us a catchy saying: "Head 'round. Butt down. Touch brown."
HEAD 'ROUND: This means that when you want to look up at something, you should turn your head to the side. The natural instinct is to lift your chin. You have to remember your head is a few inches taller because of your helmet. If you try to lift your head, you could possibly damage the cave above you. Or, worse yet, you could wedge your head against the ceiling and get stuck that way.
BUTT DOWN: This means that when you wriggle through the cave, keep your butt lower than your head. It will save the cave. And it will also save some bruises on your butt.
TOUCH BROWN: The natural color of the cave is white. It's really quite beautiful. But everywhere you touch will develop a layer of manganese. It's a brownish powder which not only stains your clothes and shoes, but also stains the cave walls. So, whenever possible, only touch the areas that have already been touched. And you can tell that they've been touched because they've turned brown.
Tours are limited to ten participants, and I'm glad. Our group only had nine. It was hard enough finding places to crouch and sit together as we rested between obstacles.
When you come to a tight spot which also requires some change in elevation (climb up or climb down), you don't want to follow each other directly for fear of knocking lose a rock and beaning the next guy in the head. So, we had to learn the process of hand-offs. The first person starts by saying their name and climbing, like "Ann climbing". When they get to the top (or bottom), they shout back their name and clear, like "Ann clear". The next person shouts up to the first person, e.g. "Kate climbing". And the first person responds, "Climb on". The phrases are always at least two syllables. Why? Because when you knock lose something, be it a rock, a helmet, a shoe, whatever, that person shouts "Rock". When the people below hear a one-syllable word, their reaction shouldn't be to stick their head in the hole and say, "What?" With the syllable rule, they'll avoid getting smacked in the face.
The first section of the tour was the hardest. It contained a corkscrew tunnel that tested your spacial acuity. You could see Sam smiling down at you at the beginning of the corkscrew, so you think you know where you're headed. But once you enter the tunnel, you lose sight of him and have to ignore your instincts in order to choose the right branch. The tunnel is tight, handholds are few, and your perception is murky. Wriggling through the passage, your body is being bruised in a hundred different places. It was so much fun!
Another challenge was called the "beached whale". It's an apt name. You are climbing up the side of a mound, like a giant mushroom. But there's not much headroom. So, by the time you get to the top, you're splayed out on your belly, flailing like a beached whale.
During our tour, Sam pointed out something known as "moon milk". It's a white oozy substance that is typical in caves. No one knows quite how or why, but if you take the moon milk and form it into a shape, like a ball or a snowman, it slowly loses it shape and returns to a mound. Very eerie stuff!
At the halfway point, we came to a place with enough room to stand and walk around. We were even allowed to remove our helmets. It was just over a rise from the Garden of Eden tour. You can hear the tourists and see the lights on the other side. In this little room is a Tupperware container that holds a book. Each wild caving group is asked to write something in the book. If the tour is late arriving back in the Visitor Center, the rangers can climb over the wall and check the book. If the group has left a message, they know that they completed the first leg of the tour, and they know the time they did so. It narrows down the search area. I'm pleased that no rescuers needed to read our message.
I later checked the map to see where we'd been. It's difficult to read because the real thing is three dimensional. The different colors represent different elevations. I know we saw Rome. "All roads lead to Rome." It's the hub for many spokes of a wheel. We also saw the "Muddle Room". It, too, contains many different openings.
By the end, I was dirty, bruised, hungry, tired, and euphoric. I wasn't as filthy as I expected to be. And I was dry, which was also a concern I had before I learned how little water was in the cave.
I can't wait to do some more wild caving in the future.
Are you claustrophobic? Overweight? In poor overall health? You will want to avoid the Wild Caving tour.
Me? I'm all over 'dat! Wild Caving was my chance to be a spelunker, if only for the next four hours. So, I waved farewell to Ma, and I was off on an adventure!
Our guide for the tour was Sam. He's a burly, jovial fellow. I wondered how he was going to squeeze through the openings we were promised. It's probably not surprising that most spelunkers are women. It just makes sense, size-wise. But Sam was a professional. He managed just fine.
In general, caves maintain the average annual temperature of the earth above them. That means caves beneath Custer, South Dakota, should maintain an average temperature of 47 degrees. Jewel Cave, which we will visit tomorrow, does this. But Wind Cave does not. I mentioned earlier that Wind Cave maintains a constant temperature of 53 degrees. It is believed that Wind Cave sits atop some sort of geothermal activity which heats the cave an extra six degrees. Even with the added warmth, the cave is still pretty chilly. I wore a sweatshirt, T-shirt, and sweatpants while I was wild caving. I also wore my goatskin leather gloves. (I love them! I wouldn't work in my garden without them.) The kneepads, helmet, and flashlight were provided.
The place we were going was not lighted. We were each required to carry three independent sources of light. The first two were located on our helmet: a main head lamp and an auxiliary head lamp. The third was a pen light slung around our necks and stuffed down our shirts.
Our first task was to learn what we were doing. When you go caving, it is important to maintain at least three points of contact with the cave at all times. That could mean two feet and a hand. Or two hands and a butt. Or a shoulder, an elbow, and a helmet. You get the idea. It's very easy to lose your balance and crush a delicate million-year-old cave formation.
Sam taught us a catchy saying: "Head 'round. Butt down. Touch brown."
HEAD 'ROUND: This means that when you want to look up at something, you should turn your head to the side. The natural instinct is to lift your chin. You have to remember your head is a few inches taller because of your helmet. If you try to lift your head, you could possibly damage the cave above you. Or, worse yet, you could wedge your head against the ceiling and get stuck that way.
BUTT DOWN: This means that when you wriggle through the cave, keep your butt lower than your head. It will save the cave. And it will also save some bruises on your butt.
TOUCH BROWN: The natural color of the cave is white. It's really quite beautiful. But everywhere you touch will develop a layer of manganese. It's a brownish powder which not only stains your clothes and shoes, but also stains the cave walls. So, whenever possible, only touch the areas that have already been touched. And you can tell that they've been touched because they've turned brown.
Tours are limited to ten participants, and I'm glad. Our group only had nine. It was hard enough finding places to crouch and sit together as we rested between obstacles.
When you come to a tight spot which also requires some change in elevation (climb up or climb down), you don't want to follow each other directly for fear of knocking lose a rock and beaning the next guy in the head. So, we had to learn the process of hand-offs. The first person starts by saying their name and climbing, like "Ann climbing". When they get to the top (or bottom), they shout back their name and clear, like "Ann clear". The next person shouts up to the first person, e.g. "Kate climbing". And the first person responds, "Climb on". The phrases are always at least two syllables. Why? Because when you knock lose something, be it a rock, a helmet, a shoe, whatever, that person shouts "Rock". When the people below hear a one-syllable word, their reaction shouldn't be to stick their head in the hole and say, "What?" With the syllable rule, they'll avoid getting smacked in the face.
The first section of the tour was the hardest. It contained a corkscrew tunnel that tested your spacial acuity. You could see Sam smiling down at you at the beginning of the corkscrew, so you think you know where you're headed. But once you enter the tunnel, you lose sight of him and have to ignore your instincts in order to choose the right branch. The tunnel is tight, handholds are few, and your perception is murky. Wriggling through the passage, your body is being bruised in a hundred different places. It was so much fun!
Another challenge was called the "beached whale". It's an apt name. You are climbing up the side of a mound, like a giant mushroom. But there's not much headroom. So, by the time you get to the top, you're splayed out on your belly, flailing like a beached whale.
During our tour, Sam pointed out something known as "moon milk". It's a white oozy substance that is typical in caves. No one knows quite how or why, but if you take the moon milk and form it into a shape, like a ball or a snowman, it slowly loses it shape and returns to a mound. Very eerie stuff!
At the halfway point, we came to a place with enough room to stand and walk around. We were even allowed to remove our helmets. It was just over a rise from the Garden of Eden tour. You can hear the tourists and see the lights on the other side. In this little room is a Tupperware container that holds a book. Each wild caving group is asked to write something in the book. If the tour is late arriving back in the Visitor Center, the rangers can climb over the wall and check the book. If the group has left a message, they know that they completed the first leg of the tour, and they know the time they did so. It narrows down the search area. I'm pleased that no rescuers needed to read our message.
I later checked the map to see where we'd been. It's difficult to read because the real thing is three dimensional. The different colors represent different elevations. I know we saw Rome. "All roads lead to Rome." It's the hub for many spokes of a wheel. We also saw the "Muddle Room". It, too, contains many different openings.
By the end, I was dirty, bruised, hungry, tired, and euphoric. I wasn't as filthy as I expected to be. And I was dry, which was also a concern I had before I learned how little water was in the cave.
I can't wait to do some more wild caving in the future.
