Post by L Roebuck on Jun 11, 2006 8:27:22 GMT -5
CAVE MAN
A Novice Spelunker Takes A Trip into the Underground
By Mark R. Dorolek
The Winchester Star
BRIDGEWATER — It seemed odd to wake up in the morning and put on a pair of thermal underwear when the temperature was supposed to exceed 70 degrees.
I did it anyway, because where I was going was a little cooler and more secluded than anywhere I had been before
I was going spelunking, or cave exploring. The more experienced simply call it caving.
Underground, the temperature stays around the mean average for wherever you are. In the Shenandoah Valley, the mean temperature is 50 to 55 degrees, so that’s the temperature in the caves all year long.
Caving is not something you can just pick up on a whim; you can’t go underground without knowing what you are doing. It is a fun — but serious — recreational sport.
And it is sport. It takes loads of exertion to climb up, down, under, and through cramped spaces and flooded areas to explore the various areas of a cave.
Just ask the people who do it regularly — such as Janet Tinkham, chairperson of Front Royal Grotto, a group of about 50 cavers associated with The National Speleological Society.
Janet and another club member, Tom Tucker, a retired geologist, recently agreed to take someone who is a little claustrophobic into a cramped space.
That someone was me.
Janet and Tom laid out the safety precautions and explained the physical exertion associated with caving during our drive to Bridgewater in Rockingham County, where we would head into Glade Cave.
“It takes a lot of muscle work,” she said. “You will wake up the next day with muscles hurting that you didn’t even know you had.”
Janet, who once worked with AIDS patients in Winchester and now lives in Shenandoah County, became interested in caving when she was a student at George Mason University.
She and other cavers founded Front Royal Grotto in 1991 when Janet and her husband, Rex, were living in Warren County.
Before joining the group, prospective members must attend meetings to learn about safety. Potential spelunkers are also taken into a cave to determine if they want to pursue the sport further.
For clothing, Janet suggested thermal underwear or a sweatshirt, long pants with a belt, hiking shoes or boots, knee and elbow pads, and cotton or leather gloves.
Caves are wet and muddy, so an extra set of clothes and shoes should be taken and left in the car.
For equipment that is carried in a pack, cavers should bring two extra sets of light sources, extra batteries, enough food for at least a day, a large plastic bag for warmth if necessary, water in an unbreakable plastic bottle, and a first aid kit.
Cavers should also wear a helmet with a mounted light so they can see in the direction they are facing.
“There are some people who say, ‘I don't want to wear a helmet,’ and we won't take them into a cave because if they get hurt, then we are responsible for their safety,” Janet said.
Before going into a cave, you should also let someone know when and where you are going, and how long you plan to stay underground, she said.
Janet said no fewer than four people should go caving together: “If someone gets hurt, then one person would stay with them and then the other two would go out of the cave to get help.”
For our recent excursion, the group was Janet, Tom (who has been exploring caves for 50 years), and me.
Janet said an exception was being made to go with three people, since she has been into Glade Cave many times and our exploration would not be overly grueling.
Tom started caving when he was 14 years old, with assistance from a member of hiking club that was doing some spelunking.
He contacted the head of the club and received permission to go underground.
“He didn’t know how old I was,” Tom said. “He thought I was older and when he found I was 14 years old, he was appalled. He called my mom and after talking to her, he let me go with him.”
Tom does his caving today with Front Royal Grotto, which also takes along Boy and Girl Scout troops who want to learn more about spelunking.
“We ask that the parents come to a meeting with the troop so they can meet us and find out what we do,” Janet said.
Tom joined Front Royal Grotto in December 2005 after moving back to Rappahannock County to take care of his mother.
He said the caves in the Shenandoah Valley were created by water traveling through limestone. The water dissolves the rock and forms the underground passages while emitting little carbon dioxide.
He said it is very rare for a cave to collapse, but Janet said no one should enter any cave if the entrance looks unstable.
Before we began our exploration of Glade Cave, Janet and Tom explained that caves are very fragile and must be treated with respect because of the unique environment.
To preserve that environment, it is illegal for anyone to remove any items or purposely destroy or vandalize any part of a cave.
Before we entered the cave, Janet checked the gear in my pack and lent me a pair of coveralls.
We walked to the entrance of Glade Cave, which is on private property that Janet has obtained permission to enter.
“Some property owners don’t like people going into the caves on their land because of liability issues,” Tom said.
Cavers should always receive permission from the property owner before going into a cave, Janet added.
The opening of Glade Cave is underneath a tree and about seven feet in diameter, which made me a little nervous because of my claustrophobia.
“Once you get in, there is room to stand up,” Janet reassured me.
Tom entered first and slid through with ease, as someone with 50 years of caving experience would.
“Even after 20 some years of caving, I still get that excitement, even if I have been in that cave before,” Janet said.
We had to slide in on our backs, but once inside, we had room to stand up.
The next step was to slide through a narrow opening into an adjacent passage that gave us a little more space to move around.
“You want to keep three points of contact at all times to move around and secure yourself,” Janet said.
That means three parts of your body — two feet and a hand; both hands and a foot; your back, a thigh, and an elbow — should be touching the cave at all times.
The floor of the cave was muddy and slick, so we had to stay alert to avoid getting hurt.
A short distance inside the cave, the sunlight vanished and our helmet lights guided the way.
The walls of the cave glistened and glowed with condensation and minerals as we moved from one passage to the next.
Even though Janet had been in the cave many times, she and Tom carried maps. As we made each turn through the cave, Janet placed a paper clip with reflective tape on the end into wall crevices, pointing to the exit.
“If you got turned around or lost, these would point back out,” she said.
We maneuvered through the cave for about two hours, checking out the various rock formations and the stalactites that hung from the ceiling.
We reached a spot where we would normally have to wade through shin-deep water, but a lack of rain has reduced it to a puddle.
“The water level is down,” Janet said disappointedly.
Tom said it is best to check the weather forecast before going spelunking, because a rainstorm can flood a cave.
The claustrophobic sense I had going into the cave had subsided but was not completely gone. My primary emotion was wonder; I was amazed by the environment.
“The limestone is probably about 350 to 400 million years old, but the cave is about 2 million years old,” Tom said. “It is a very short time, geologically speaking.”
After about an hour of going in and around many slippery turns and trying to climb up and above various obstacles, we took a break for some food and water.
Janet asked if I wanted to go to the “pool room” — a watery area farther into the cave — but at this point I was exhausted and didn’t know how much energy I would have to get back out.
As we headed back to the entrance, Janet let me take a lead for a while. A few times, what seemed like the right way out turned into a dead end.
I missed one of the reflectors pointing the way out, but by sheer luck, I ended up going in the right direction.
After making it out of the cave and its 3,000 feet of passageways, we sat in our muddy coveralls and relaxed before cleaning up.
I could feel my leg muscles tightening up, and I knew I was going to be bruised and sore before long.
“You find bruises the next day and think ‘How did I do that?’” Janet said.
We took off our mud-stained clothes and wiped off our mud-stained bodies, and drank more water for rehydration.
Janet and Tom said spelunking is a love-it-or-hate-it proposition.
“Once you do it, you either love it and you’re hooked, or you don’t and you never do it again,” Janet said.
As for me, I’m still on the fence. Maybe I’ll do it again, maybe I won’t.
For now, though, I think I’ll stay above ground.
Full Article and Cave Photo's:
www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/060610/Area_cave.asp
A Novice Spelunker Takes A Trip into the Underground
By Mark R. Dorolek
The Winchester Star
BRIDGEWATER — It seemed odd to wake up in the morning and put on a pair of thermal underwear when the temperature was supposed to exceed 70 degrees.
I did it anyway, because where I was going was a little cooler and more secluded than anywhere I had been before
I was going spelunking, or cave exploring. The more experienced simply call it caving.
Underground, the temperature stays around the mean average for wherever you are. In the Shenandoah Valley, the mean temperature is 50 to 55 degrees, so that’s the temperature in the caves all year long.
Caving is not something you can just pick up on a whim; you can’t go underground without knowing what you are doing. It is a fun — but serious — recreational sport.
And it is sport. It takes loads of exertion to climb up, down, under, and through cramped spaces and flooded areas to explore the various areas of a cave.
Just ask the people who do it regularly — such as Janet Tinkham, chairperson of Front Royal Grotto, a group of about 50 cavers associated with The National Speleological Society.
Janet and another club member, Tom Tucker, a retired geologist, recently agreed to take someone who is a little claustrophobic into a cramped space.
That someone was me.
Janet and Tom laid out the safety precautions and explained the physical exertion associated with caving during our drive to Bridgewater in Rockingham County, where we would head into Glade Cave.
“It takes a lot of muscle work,” she said. “You will wake up the next day with muscles hurting that you didn’t even know you had.”
Janet, who once worked with AIDS patients in Winchester and now lives in Shenandoah County, became interested in caving when she was a student at George Mason University.
She and other cavers founded Front Royal Grotto in 1991 when Janet and her husband, Rex, were living in Warren County.
Before joining the group, prospective members must attend meetings to learn about safety. Potential spelunkers are also taken into a cave to determine if they want to pursue the sport further.
For clothing, Janet suggested thermal underwear or a sweatshirt, long pants with a belt, hiking shoes or boots, knee and elbow pads, and cotton or leather gloves.
Caves are wet and muddy, so an extra set of clothes and shoes should be taken and left in the car.
For equipment that is carried in a pack, cavers should bring two extra sets of light sources, extra batteries, enough food for at least a day, a large plastic bag for warmth if necessary, water in an unbreakable plastic bottle, and a first aid kit.
Cavers should also wear a helmet with a mounted light so they can see in the direction they are facing.
“There are some people who say, ‘I don't want to wear a helmet,’ and we won't take them into a cave because if they get hurt, then we are responsible for their safety,” Janet said.
Before going into a cave, you should also let someone know when and where you are going, and how long you plan to stay underground, she said.
Janet said no fewer than four people should go caving together: “If someone gets hurt, then one person would stay with them and then the other two would go out of the cave to get help.”
For our recent excursion, the group was Janet, Tom (who has been exploring caves for 50 years), and me.
Janet said an exception was being made to go with three people, since she has been into Glade Cave many times and our exploration would not be overly grueling.
Tom started caving when he was 14 years old, with assistance from a member of hiking club that was doing some spelunking.
He contacted the head of the club and received permission to go underground.
“He didn’t know how old I was,” Tom said. “He thought I was older and when he found I was 14 years old, he was appalled. He called my mom and after talking to her, he let me go with him.”
Tom does his caving today with Front Royal Grotto, which also takes along Boy and Girl Scout troops who want to learn more about spelunking.
“We ask that the parents come to a meeting with the troop so they can meet us and find out what we do,” Janet said.
Tom joined Front Royal Grotto in December 2005 after moving back to Rappahannock County to take care of his mother.
He said the caves in the Shenandoah Valley were created by water traveling through limestone. The water dissolves the rock and forms the underground passages while emitting little carbon dioxide.
He said it is very rare for a cave to collapse, but Janet said no one should enter any cave if the entrance looks unstable.
Before we began our exploration of Glade Cave, Janet and Tom explained that caves are very fragile and must be treated with respect because of the unique environment.
To preserve that environment, it is illegal for anyone to remove any items or purposely destroy or vandalize any part of a cave.
Before we entered the cave, Janet checked the gear in my pack and lent me a pair of coveralls.
We walked to the entrance of Glade Cave, which is on private property that Janet has obtained permission to enter.
“Some property owners don’t like people going into the caves on their land because of liability issues,” Tom said.
Cavers should always receive permission from the property owner before going into a cave, Janet added.
The opening of Glade Cave is underneath a tree and about seven feet in diameter, which made me a little nervous because of my claustrophobia.
“Once you get in, there is room to stand up,” Janet reassured me.
Tom entered first and slid through with ease, as someone with 50 years of caving experience would.
“Even after 20 some years of caving, I still get that excitement, even if I have been in that cave before,” Janet said.
We had to slide in on our backs, but once inside, we had room to stand up.
The next step was to slide through a narrow opening into an adjacent passage that gave us a little more space to move around.
“You want to keep three points of contact at all times to move around and secure yourself,” Janet said.
That means three parts of your body — two feet and a hand; both hands and a foot; your back, a thigh, and an elbow — should be touching the cave at all times.
The floor of the cave was muddy and slick, so we had to stay alert to avoid getting hurt.
A short distance inside the cave, the sunlight vanished and our helmet lights guided the way.
The walls of the cave glistened and glowed with condensation and minerals as we moved from one passage to the next.
Even though Janet had been in the cave many times, she and Tom carried maps. As we made each turn through the cave, Janet placed a paper clip with reflective tape on the end into wall crevices, pointing to the exit.
“If you got turned around or lost, these would point back out,” she said.
We maneuvered through the cave for about two hours, checking out the various rock formations and the stalactites that hung from the ceiling.
We reached a spot where we would normally have to wade through shin-deep water, but a lack of rain has reduced it to a puddle.
“The water level is down,” Janet said disappointedly.
Tom said it is best to check the weather forecast before going spelunking, because a rainstorm can flood a cave.
The claustrophobic sense I had going into the cave had subsided but was not completely gone. My primary emotion was wonder; I was amazed by the environment.
“The limestone is probably about 350 to 400 million years old, but the cave is about 2 million years old,” Tom said. “It is a very short time, geologically speaking.”
After about an hour of going in and around many slippery turns and trying to climb up and above various obstacles, we took a break for some food and water.
Janet asked if I wanted to go to the “pool room” — a watery area farther into the cave — but at this point I was exhausted and didn’t know how much energy I would have to get back out.
As we headed back to the entrance, Janet let me take a lead for a while. A few times, what seemed like the right way out turned into a dead end.
I missed one of the reflectors pointing the way out, but by sheer luck, I ended up going in the right direction.
After making it out of the cave and its 3,000 feet of passageways, we sat in our muddy coveralls and relaxed before cleaning up.
I could feel my leg muscles tightening up, and I knew I was going to be bruised and sore before long.
“You find bruises the next day and think ‘How did I do that?’” Janet said.
We took off our mud-stained clothes and wiped off our mud-stained bodies, and drank more water for rehydration.
Janet and Tom said spelunking is a love-it-or-hate-it proposition.
“Once you do it, you either love it and you’re hooked, or you don’t and you never do it again,” Janet said.
As for me, I’m still on the fence. Maybe I’ll do it again, maybe I won’t.
For now, though, I think I’ll stay above ground.
Full Article and Cave Photo's:
www.winchesterstar.com/TheWinchesterStar/060610/Area_cave.asp