Cave Crickets II
by Mary Reynolds, Copyright January 22, 2005, all rights reserved. 238 views
It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. This adventure was one of the best yet, but there were some scary times and close calls.
January 22, 2005. The drive to the cave was on Missouri-style roads. Temperature: 50 ° F. The cave entrance was a fairly large one, at the base of a hill, and right in the backyard of a rural resident. There was a lot of breakdown in the entrance. A main passage led off on the left, and various smaller passages were discovered below the breakdown, and on the right. The initial groups were: Hans (leader), Leon, Jason, Ryan, Joe, John; Adam (leader), Nathaniel, Johannah, Helena, Jill, and yours truly.
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| From 2005-01-22 Wells Cave |
The entrance to Wells Cave.
Into the cave. Both groups traveled down the main passage, and took one of the three passages inside. The Bluedorns wished to show us the crickets which had inspired the cave’s nickname. The little cute creatures were soon discovered. Emotions to the crickets were mixed among the humans. A crawfish was also discovered, measuring approx. 5 inches. Bats were scattered about on the ceilings and walls.
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| From 2005-01-22 Wells Cave |
Mr. Crawdad
I can’t remember. We went down various passages, and honestly yours has no recollection of anything in particular, excepting finding a stream, and getting her flashlight batteries dirty.
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| From 2005-01-22 Wells Cave |
Consulting the map
Lunchtime. Then my group headed back to the front entrance, meeting the other group there. It was decided to follow Leon, who had disappeared down some hole in the breakdown. The Bluedorns had been down this passage on their previous expedition. Eventually, everyone got down various holes and met at the bottom. The groups split up again and ventured forth.
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| From 2005-01-22 Wells Cave |
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| From 2005-01-22 Wells Cave |
Lunch back at the entrance
The Waterfall. Both groups had as their destination a waterfall, which the Bluedorns had enjoyed on their previous excursion. There were many canyons and elevation changes. Finally, the waterfall was discovered once again, but, unfortunately, its size had been diminished. Now passages around the waterfall were sounded, but they all doubled back.
The Ladder. All but Jason, Helena, Jill, and yours ventured up the ladder. And so while the rest carried on the task of ventures and explorations, these four paused for a breather. About half the time was dark, during which yours truly discovered yours truly’s fluorescent gives off light when off. The four waited for a while, about 45 minutes so yours truly thinks, before they decided they would make another venture on their own, the purpose being mainly for warming up. But before this group traveled very far, some of the other group returned. Leon and John joined the group of four, while Joe and Adam retrieved some gear and returned to their group.
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| From 2005-01-22 Wells Cave |
The ledge to the upper section
Muddy Ouch. Our group ventured down many passages. The first kept going and going. Unfortunately, it kept going in the hands and knees style. First the ground was solid rock, then gravel, then gravel and water [side spectacle – waterfall bigger than the other], then water and mud. Leon kept going on, and I followed him at a distance to keep communication going. The water got deeper and deeper. I occasionally would hear a splash, and reasoned thus to myself – ‘ahh, Leon knows how to swim’, but then I won’t hear anything more, ‘yeah, but not if he got knocked out..,’—- “Leeoonnnn??” “Yeah.”
And Back Again. We turned around after Leon figured it didn’t go anywhere. Our knees hurt after that. More passages were sounded, then we headed back out to the entrance. We got back out and ventured in a passage on the far right of the entrance, which John had discovered before. When we were down in a little ways, though, orange tape was discovered [ this had been found before at the bat room ], so we figured we better turn around again.
Leon’s Hole. Then we went back down the main passage and down the passage we had been before, as there was a hole in the breakdown down there which Leon wished to explore, but his group wouldn’t let him… [lunchtime, I think] So we got there, and Leon popped in, then John, then I, but no one else, as Jason was going “that doesn’t look very safe”… The breakdown partially covered the hole, and one particularly large slab overhung the hole, supported by slightly unsecure medium-sized rocks. Anyway, so I slide through and jump down, then wait while Leon starts to explore. After a bit, we hear, “Uhh, I think we better turn back; I just scared a bat”. The scaring was mutual. The passage wasn’t all that big, and all of a sudden, a bat had started screeching and flapping at the back of Leon’s neck. He froze until it finally calmed down, then came back. Okay, time to hop back out.
For a pot of honey. There’s this one episode of Winnie the Pooh. He visits Rabbit’s house, for the sole purpose of some honey. Well, Pooh “ate and ate and Ate and ATE” and when he had finished eating, he turned to Rabbit and said, “Goodbye, Rabbit. I must be going now.” “Well, all right, if you won’t have any more.” “IS there any more?” “No [sigh], there isn’t.” “Thought not.” And so he starts so go through the dirt hole door. He pulled with his front paws, and pushed with his back paws, and in a little while his nose was out in the open again… and then his ears… and then his front paws… and then his shoulders… and then—- “Oh help! I better go back.” … “Oh, bother! I shall have to go on.” … “I can’t do either! Oh, help and bother!” [Rabbit:] “It all comes of eating too much.” [Pooh:] “It all comes of not having front doors big enough.” And so Pooh was laughed at—[Owl:] “Hullo, are you stuck?” [Pooh:] “Noo. Just resting and thinking and humming to myself.” [hums] [Owl:]A wedged bear in a great tightness, in a word, immoveable” … and sympathized with—“Honeysuckles!” [Kanga:] “Oh, no, you don’t eat them, you smell them!” [Pooh sneezes], all while Christopher Robin’s advice was followed.—“Well, Pooh Bear, you’re just going to have to wait until you get thin again.” “Oh, dear, how long is that going to take?” [Eeyore:] “Days, Weeks, Months, who knows…”
Who, me? This story was going through my mind, as I got stuck. Fortunately, I had forgot all about the part where he has to wait… As I was popping back up through my own hole (this was a vertical hole], I was told not to use the rocks on my right, as they were getting very loose. [I was told later that they had moved when we got down, making the hole smaller.] So I tried to twist around so I could use the ones on my left. There were no rocks for my feet and the ones my knees were trying to grab were slightly muddy. I was stuck. But it wasn’t my stomach, though, it was bone, so waiting to get thin again won’t have helped anyway. The ones on top tried pulling, but that didn’t help, neither did pushing from the bottom, because if I was just pulled or pushed out, all the rocks would be shoved around. And then, as I was trying to twist around, a rock fell down. Oh, no! “Are you alright?” to Leon and John down below. A pause. Leon asks, “Are you alright?” John answers, “Yeah, it’s just my hand.” “Is it broken?” [meanwhile, I’m going oh, no, oh, no] “No, just a scratch.” Finally I was able to twist enough. I think that rock shifted everything around slightly. And then pop! Up I came. John followed, and then Leon went through the hole from which the rock had fallen. “Wow! That hole’s a lot easier!” “Yeah, that hole just got there!” And then we all watched John as he bandaged his hand. “You don’t have to look at it.” “But this is our first real accident.” [thankfully, it wasn’t worse!] “We’ll have to interview you and post it on the web.”
Crickets. After this harrowing adventure, we came back out of that passage, and explored the rest of the main passage. One passage had a lot of crickets on the ceiling, which unnerved Helena, so she stayed back with Jason, as the rest of us crawled into a hole with crickets all over the wall and ceiling [not as bad, though, as another passage Leon went in, where he got covered with them]. We didn’t want to do more crawling, but the first one ( Leon again?) said the crawling was very short, as indeed it was. And so we went down passages, and then met up with Joe and Nathaniel. After comparing where we were and how we got there, we followed them out to the main passage another way, and joined up with everyone else. Then stories started flying. It was time to head out, so back we plodded.
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| From 2005-01-22 Wells Cave |
The keyhole passge
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| From 2005-01-22 Wells Cave |
Snowing outside
A wonderful time was had by all. Thanks, guys, for one of the best times yet! Thanks, Nathaniel and Johannah for planning and taking care of everything. Thanks, Leon, for planning everything else and holding doors open. Thanks, Hans, for enduring the girls. Thanks, Adam, for cleaning my batteries. Thanks, Jason, for the advice I should’ve took. [Mary’s 2 nd caving lesson – take Jason’s advice before following Leon]. Thanks, John, for smiling and not making me feel so bad when that rock hurt you. Thanks, Jill and Helena for helping, too, with the stuck up bear. Thanks, bro, for driving most of the way.
‘Til next time! (can’t wait)
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