Spelunking!

We went spelunking today. It was a lot of fun! Mostly because the word "spelunking" is fun to say. Spelunking. Spelunking. I'm a spelunker. Also, saying it several times and in different fonts makes it cooler. Right? Right??

Anyway... There's this state park nearby that has this cave system and there are two ways you can go once you go through the low part in the entrance. To the right is this 8 mile or so passageway with lots of water and mud, and it's a (paid) guided tour. To the left is a small passageway that just ends in this cavern with a big pool of water. We went left. It wasn't very far, only a couple hundred yards or so. I think. It's hard to tell how far you've gone when you're concentrating on finding a steady rock to step on and not hit your head (or the baby who is strapped on your back) against the rock wall.

This is from 3 years ago, but this is in the entrance. I think I'm under the low part, you can see the cave ceiling above my head. It's like a 4 foot gap to crawl through.

Also from 3 years ago, still the entrance, but past the low part. 

So we got to the end of the passage in Conner's Cave (the whole system was called Devil's Ice Box, but Conner's Cave is the short one), and we were just kind of shining our flashlights around and looking at stuff and then I think it was Richard who mentioned the secret staircase. It was just this steep set of stairs made of clay from people climbing up them, I guess. Anyway, Zach, Richard, and Karen all went up. I didn't, because my shoes had very little traction and I didn't feel like risking falling down the super slick clay stairs and hitting my head on the rocks and dying in the middle of a very dark cave. Because that just sounds like something I'd do.

There was one point where we all turned off our lights just to see how dark it was. And... it was dark. Very, very dark. Like if you didn't have lights, you'd totally hit your head on a rock and never find your way back and die because it's so dark. Suffocating darkness. Did I mention it was dark?

So Noah is now a tiny spelunker. I think he enjoyed it (except for the couple times I accidentally brushed his head against the rock entrance). It felt really good down there, it was like 55-60 degrees or so.

I think we were probably spelunking (haha!) for 20-30 minutes. Then we found our way back and hiked back out through the park and went to eat. It was a good day.

After our spelunking. Noah's chewing on the ergo. That's what he did the whole time. It was a very educational trip for him.

I enjoyed it, and would like to go spelunking again. Maybe when Noah's a bit older and can walk and actually appreciate how cool it is. =)