This was my first caving adventure & this is where it all began !
** Sorry about the pictures. I took these from the website , we couldn't risk losing our own mobile/camera inside the dark cave.
Robin and myself were visiting our two best friends in San Jose for the long weekend. The boys are fond of adventures and they came up with the idea of Visiting the California Caverns in Cave City. I did not know that they had booked for the Level - 5 Middle Earth expedition , until the caving day. I was not aware of how difficult the adventure scale : 5 would be. I tried my best to convince all three of them that this caving is not meant for us , as I happened to watch the videos and pictures on their website . But they were all determined and excited . I had this feeling that I am not physically strong enough for spelunking , crawling or strenuous exercise inside the dark and haunted cave. But I din't want to disappoint them, so I decided to tag along.
We got there by 11 am and had a talk with our guide about few preparatory tips before we start. We had to sign the caving waivers. They provided us with coveralls, helmet with a flash light , gloves and shoes. We were all looking weird in those already muddy clothes . Our guide advised us that it is wet, humid and muddy inside the dark cave and warned us that after a particular point, we can come out only through final exit of the cave and no retreat is possible. I could feel the adrenaline rush in me , but I decided to go ahead . And we were all set !
We walked through the woods for 10 minutes and reached the entrance to the cave adventure [see picture above]. It was a small opening and I couldn't picture myself spelunking in through that hollow, but i somehow did. It was pitch dark inside and we could hardly see each other. I was relieved that I wasn't claustrophobic. We were accompanied by five other experienced cavers , who were here for the second time. My friend gave me directions as I was crawling through the clay covered tract between rocks to a zone that resembled a 'bookshelf' . Everyone knew that this is my first time caving and I was scared, slow and very careful & vigilant about each and every steep step I took to descend through the slippery mud. I had to tilt myself and fit into the deep and dark passage, not knowing what it was like on the other side. Then came the 'meat grinder' as the guide called it, where only one person at a time can crawl with the stomach and reach the end of a tunnel like passage. Crawling through that small diameter was tight and painful.
We navigated to a bottle necked cave pit called 'womb room' where only 5 to 6 people could be accommodated at a time and its a small closed room . We had to pull ourselves up from there to continue our adventure. Even though I was stressed and wary, I noticed the incredibly beautiful formations inside the cave, as we advanced to the next zone.
I had a very bad headache when I saw a small steel bridge , under which was watery clay. Suddenly I felt that I would never cross this , because there was just a rope to hold on and the bridge was shaky. I could hear the water dripping from the formations to the small stagnant pond beneath the bridge. At this point I somehow wanted to reach the final exit of the cave, so I did not waste any time thinking , just dragged myself through the bridge with all the strength i had. My heart was beating very fast and I did not look down.
There was an underground lake that was unbelievable and we had to cross to the rock across the river to continue our journey. The water in the lake was icy cold and my hands froze when i touched the water while we were on the boat. The clay in the cave was very sticky and whenever I stopped for a minute to wait for my friend, I found my legs buried in the gluey clay, which was very frightening. We reached to a narrow region of the cave where there was water up to 5 feet. I almost drowned in the water while crossing it .
As soon as I stepped into the freezing cold water , I couldn't touch the floor, panicked and lost balance, then finally my husband had to give me a hand to get to the other side. And now the coveralls got wet, it was quite uncomfortable and cold , to move through the heavy & more sticky clay. In spite of all the discomfort, there was a smile on our faces, that we made it till here.
Our guide alerted us that we are moving to the most difficult exercise of this caving expedition. It was a thin, shaky ladder about seventy feet high which leads to the exit of the cave. I was frightened to see the height of the ladder . I had slight fear of heights , moreover i was very tired & weak after all this time.
I knew if I looked back or down , I would definitely fall down. Just sent a silent request to God for courage, and ascended the ladder, thinking about going home. I went up slowly and carefully , all the ladder rails were slippery and sticky , I did not look down, as I was already feeling little dizzy and visibility was very low. Our guide told us that he could see sunlight and that he was almost near the exit. Then I hurried and reached the top of the ladder and landed on a dry floor .
Finally sunlight.... smiles......I did it! I checked the time on my watch and it was 5 o'clock in the evening. We waited near the exit till the entire team came out, took a group picture, and thanked our guide .
It was a proud moment, a fun filled challenging exercise and a very memorable trip....
