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Caving Trip

by Nathaniel Bluedorn, Copyright August 22, 2003, all rights reserved. 665 views

Friday, August 22, 2003

6:00 – Go out to eat at a country buffet. Most of us have met each other before, but we didn’t know each other well. We talk about what we were going to do the next day and about what we are each generally doing in life.

10:00 – Some of us get to bed at the hotel while some go to a campsite.
Saturday, August 23, 2003

From Misc Images

Meramec State Park, Missouri

9:00 – Get to park station and start preparing our gear. Everyone has to demonstrate their gear since none has used it before. We Bluedorns get to brag because we are the only ones who’ve done this before.

From 2003-08-23 Hamilton Cave, Cookout

Preparing our gear before Hamilton Cave.

Some of us went overboard with too many flashlights – no risk takers here.

Park rangers thought we were the most prepared group they’d seen

9:30 – We sign a permit to visit Hamilton Cave and receive the big key. We get all sorts of advice from the ranger.

10:30 – Arrive at Hamilton Cave after a long walk down an overgrown trail. We almost miss the fork in the trail, but when we reach the entrance, it is unmistakable and impressive. We start turning on headlamps while some of us try to unlock the gate with our key.

From 2003-08-23 Hamilton Cave, Cookout

Group photo before Hamilton Cave. We are all smiling, innocent of what lies ahead.

From 2003-08-23 Hamilton Cave, Cookout

Entrance to Hamilton Cave.

From 2003-08-23 Hamilton Cave, Cookout

We are all holding up Kenton on a cave ledge.

Actually, it just looks like we are holding him up.

11:00 – We walk though large passageways with tall ceilings. Many formations drape the walls and drip from above. We see a small side passageway and climb up to it. It goes further, so some of us crawl on our hands and knees until it gets uncomfortably tight and we turn around.

From 2003-08-23 Hamilton Cave, Cookout

A tight spot in Hamilton Cave.

It wasn’t all this tight, there were a few taller spots.

(That was supposed to be funny.)

12:00 – Further down the main passage the ceiling has been slowly getting lower and lower. Now it is right above our heads. We stop and eat lunch on a dry comfortable ledge. We turn out our lights and see if we can eat in the darkness. It is amazing the sounds people make as they eat – these are the things you notice when it is totally dark and silent in a cave.

12:30 – We have gotten a lot further back in the cave and we are crawling now. At some points we simply roll our bodies as that is easier than crawling. The cave keeps going, but we decide to turn back since some taller members of our group are feeling uncomfortable.

From 2003-08-23 Hamilton Cave, Cookout

A time-lapse photo of the front room of Hamilton Cave.

1:00 – We investigate a side passageway near the entrance hall and find a large section of cave formations including a pool with stalagmites that look like large mushrooms, and a narrow pit full of water that does not seem to have any bottom.

From 2003-08-23 Hamilton Cave, Cookout

Adam Stanford in the Mushroom Room of Hamilton Cave.

2:00 – We reach our cars back up the trail. The cars have baked in the sun while were were cool in the cave. Some of us return to the hotel and some go back to their campsite to clean up.

5:00 – We meet at the Hedding’s campsite and prepare a meal of onions, potatoes, beef and other things wrapped in aluminum foil and roasted in the fire. Marshmallows and chocolate Shmores are for desert. Someone mentions a controversial topic, and a discussion ensues. By the close we all conclude that we’d like to see more of each other, but we live long distances apart. The Adventure Club is suggested as a way of getting us together more often by doing adventuresome things in a safe and healthy way.

From 2003-08-23 Hamilton Cave, Cookout

Our cookout after Hamilton Cave.

We discovered some of us have odd culinary eccentricities.

Sunday, August 24, 2003

8:00 – We have a simple Bible study at a shelter in the park. It starts off a little awkward, but closes well.

9:00 – Dan West and Katie West arrive. We sign a permit for Mushroom Cave and get the key. We dawn dirty helmets and headlamps from yesterday and hike up the hill to the cave.

From 2003-08-24 Mushroom Cave

A bat in Mushroom Cave.

I hope he didn’t mind me taking his picture. He was so cute.

9:10 – We split up into the fast group and the slow group. This cave is much different than the first. There are many more formations. Some are huge and make columns from floor to ceiling. We find a long tunnel with a smooth mud floor that some of us go sliding on. There are many side passages and large domed rooms that lead into more large domed rooms.

From 2003-08-24 Mushroom Cave

Another time-lapse photo, taken the next day in a back room in Mushroom Cave.

From 2003-08-24 Mushroom Cave

The second entrance to Mushroom Cave.

12:50 – We exit into the hot sunshine. I take a delayed shutter picture of us all lined up outside. When someone points out some weeds in the way of the picture, I pull the weeds a way and take a second picture. Someone notices that the weed I pulled up with my hand was a clump of poison ivy.

From 2003-08-24 Mushroom Cave

We are still smiling after Mushroom Cave.

Yes, that is poison ivy in the foreground.

1:00 – We arrive back at our cars. The park ranger lets us use the station water hose to clean ourselves up. This takes a while because there is only one hose, everyone needs to use it, and the water is very cold.

2:00 – Caving Trip I ends with warm farewells as we drive our separate ways.

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