L Roebuck
Technical Support
Caving
^V^ Just a caver
Posts: 2,023
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Post by L Roebuck on May 23, 2007 14:07:43 GMT -5
Ok so I read a Scout Camp article today that mentioned "Hay Bale Caving" and wondered if any one on the forum had ever participated in any Hay Bale Caving. I've never heard of it before. Is it fun? Itchy?
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on May 23, 2007 18:53:30 GMT -5
Hey Lynn, Yep, we used to do that when we were kids. We had barns where we stored the old style rectangular bales of hay and we would build tunnels and caverns thru the stacks. We didn't call it hay bale caving, guess we didn't know the correct terminology for it back then. And yes, at times we would break out in rashes from playing on the hay. By the way, this activity is only safe with freshly stacked hay. Snakes will eventually bed up in between the bales. I didn't know anyone still baled hay in the rectangular shapes. Around here everyone does the large round bales of hay now.
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L Roebuck
Technical Support
Caving
^V^ Just a caver
Posts: 2,023
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Post by L Roebuck on May 23, 2007 19:28:57 GMT -5
That jogged my memory....I do remember crawling around in hay bales when I was a youngster. ;D Is hay bale caving is a southern thing?
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Post by jonsdigs on May 23, 2007 22:15:22 GMT -5
We used to build them in our barn in Northern Illinois. It was a 3-D challenge done in total darkness.Thanks for the good memory!
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Brian Roebuck
Site Admin
Caver
Caving - the one activity that really brings you to your knees!
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Post by Brian Roebuck on May 24, 2007 5:38:12 GMT -5
Dang, in North Carolina we used to have to crawl through storm drain conduits to get to the big rooms (man holes) for our caving fix. I was never around that many hay bales at once. We called ourselves "sewer ratz". I recall having fun shooting bottle rockets out of the storm water inlets to scare other kids though!
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Post by Azurerana on May 24, 2007 7:26:51 GMT -5
Hay houses--Missouri.
Sort of the precursor to commercial corn mazes, but the hay houses were free.
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L Roebuck
Technical Support
Caving
^V^ Just a caver
Posts: 2,023
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Post by L Roebuck on May 24, 2007 17:52:43 GMT -5
I remember as a very little kid living in the northern states we used to build passageways and caves in hugh snow drifts. My ' hay ' day came a bit later in childhood. ;D
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Post by Rick Brinkman on May 25, 2007 11:13:23 GMT -5
That makes me shudder to even think about it. However, I have severe hay fever.
On the other side, you (ok..kids) should still be able to do it with round bales or the large square bales. Just wouldn't have as many tunnels.
FYI The LARGE square bales are 1 ton each.
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Post by Azurerana on May 25, 2007 12:25:15 GMT -5
'Normal' straw bales are routinely used around here for temporary ampitheater seating, and as water barriers on construction sites. So much so, they advertise it on the radio. I don't think we'll get to the point that small bales vanish in my lifetime. They are too useful.
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Post by paul snook on May 26, 2007 6:50:39 GMT -5
yea memories are good, seems like the hidden rooms with half a bale openings were fun until your older sister stacked bales infront of the openings, or until your cousins knocked down your forts, watch out for the wasps and rats, dont miss the itch and straw in your clothes
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Post by graveleye on May 31, 2007 13:52:53 GMT -5
i first started "caving" in the storm drains underneath I-85 just north of Atlanta. Those were the days!!
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Post by Sharon Faulkner on Jun 1, 2007 8:10:20 GMT -5
Hi Kevin I've heard several cavers say they started out caving by roaming the storm drains and sewers found in and under metropolitan areas.
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Tony Anders
Caver
SKSC Caver
See you around, in the underground.
Posts: 329
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Post by Tony Anders on Jun 1, 2007 13:35:47 GMT -5
The only thing we crawled under when I was a kid was Mom and Dad's house. Some of the spaced there was pretty close to the ground...
Guess I was deprived as a child...
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Post by Azurerana on Jun 1, 2007 22:54:27 GMT -5
Don't feel deprived. We were soo poor we had to dig our own caves....
Well, not really, but I grew up in a subdivision under construction. When it was partially finished, the contractor ran out of money, and skipped to Arkansas. Four lots (in a square) across the street had foundations dug, but no concrete poured. They were partially earth sheltered basements-- like two walls. We dug caves into them, and spent who knows how much time digging steps from the bottom of the basement to the top, up loess slopes. If you know anything about loess (windblown glacial soil) you know it can hold a vertical wall without collapse until it is dislodged, and the clay grains are unlocked. So the clay actually made fairly decent caves, although we had to have scrounged plywood roofs, which were then piled with more dirt. Then, we would dig beneath them, hollowing them out lower than the entrance.
We were all part prairie dog, I think. But no one had A/C back then, except for a bedroom window unit, and we were outside or in the house basement. The caves made it cooler than to be outside on a beating August afternoon.
Four grotto cavers came off of our street alone, even though we didn't have any 'real caves' anywhere within bicycling distance.
I wonder how many kids these days could be entertained with a shovel, scrap wood, and dirt.
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