For Thursday, November 20, 1997 Drummer Column, Gibbs, 742 words

Cave in

The Benicia High School Backpacking Club went cave spelunking again last weekend. This is now our tenth year for visiting the California Caverns at Cave City.

Forty-three people dressed up in jumpsuits and lighted helmets and climbed into a small hole on the cold side of a mountain. Four hours later and caked in mud, they emerged through a smaller hole on the colder side.

Why do we do it? We get asked that a lot. We had a great time, but to some people our trip sounded like pure agony. In fact, we had room for 60 students and only 40 signed up. Let me describe our trip and see if you can find any pleasure in the pain.

We arrived at camp Friday near sundown. It was also near freezing. The field camp was dotted with large puddles. We huddled our tents together in a dry stretch of grass, then crossed the field and built a ringless fire out of boards from home. By sundown it was freezing. Tents were covered with an icy shell. The fire was too weak to heat everybody, but it was too early to go to bed, so we stood together in the dark field and shivered and told bad jokes.

We ate hot dogs and chips and drank cold sodas under a full moon.

The next morning we woke up early to granola bars and rain. We fired up our stoves and made hot drinks. We stood around. "How'd you sleep?" was the main topic of discussion. People either bragged about how warm they were, or complained about how cold it got.

The rain increased and most of us took down our tents. So far, we were having a ball, but now the real fun was about to begin. It was time for Group One to "suit up."

The night before, we had broken ourselves into four groups of nine and a tail group of seven. Each group was now to be assigned two trained guides who would lead them through the mountain, at one-hour intervals.

Group One got its call to the Prep Area around 8:30 a.m. to pick out suits, helmets, gloves, and boots. People who wore low-heeled shoes had them duct-taped to their feet. Otherwise, the mud would suck them off. Shortly after Group One and its guides disappeared down Rainbow Trail toward the cave entrance, Group Two got its call to the Prep Area. It went on like that until 2 p.m. when Group Five finally ducked down the rabbit hole.

About that time, Group One was coming out on the far side. Art, a Group One guide, jumped back in again as a guide with Group Five. I can understand why. Inside the cave, it's warmer and dry and there's no icy wind, just mud and crawlspaces and mud.

The California Caverns also have big rooms, lots of stalactites and stalagmites, and a commercial walking tour for cave lovers of all ages. The first part of our tour was in the commercial area. I was in Group Three. We popped out of one hole called the "Womb Room" to find a whole crowd of little kids in helmets staring back at us, like we were mole rats.

Our tour continued beyond the farthest room, down a crack, into "Middle Earth" and down to Tom's Lake. A raft ride to the far side lead us to more catacombs called "The Quill" and then to four ladders and a rope leading to the surface among some tree roots.

Caked and dripping with mud, we hiked downhill back to the staging area and peeled off our wet jumpsuits and gloves. We had to hose ourselves down with a high pressure garden hose to get the heavy mud off. The sky hung gray. The air remained cold. The puddles in the parking lot had grown considerably. We'd missed a day of rain. No problem. Now we got to shower in the outdoor stalls.

By bedtime Saturday we were all back home snuggling with our families. Now, who can't imagine themselves having a good time on a trip like that?

I talked with Alan our guide (He was also my guide ten years ago on my first trip.) He said elementary schools tour the caverns regularly. Rarely does a high school bring a spelunking crew. We are rare. We are among the few. That's cool for us. It's too bad for all the others.