For Thursday, November 4, 1999 Drummer Column, Gibbs, 726 words

Back in the caverns

The high school Backpacking Club toured the California Caverns again last weekend. That makes 12 years in a row. This year we had 53 spelunkers, and seven of them were parents -- five dads and two moms. That's a new record for parents. Usually they come but stay above ground. This year they got down and dirty with the kids and had a ball.

We entered the cave in five waves. Every hour two hired guides, one at each end, lead a group of 10-11 spelunkers down the rabbit hole. They clambered through a labyrinth of huge rooms, narrow crevices, and mud. A mile later, after rowing across Tom's Lake in the center of the mountain, the adventurers climbed 160 feet using a series of aluminum ladders. They crawled through the Dragon's Throat, pulling themselves up his slippery gullet with their arms alone, tugging at a rope-loop ladder. From there another rabbit hole led them through a tangle of tree roots and out at the tree's base on the far side of the mountain.

For more detailed descriptions of the caves themselves, scroll back through my column history web site. I've described them in detail every year since 1988.

Now is where I say each trip is different, supposedly giving me justification for writing about the caverns yet again. I've used that segue several times. Dare I use it again? Absolutely. Every year this trip is brand new. Prepare yourselves for next year because I'll say the same thing again.

The kids came in two flavors -- the newcomers to spelunking and the returnees. The returnees told stories that transferred heightened excitement to the newcomers who were excited already. The night before we entered the caves we slept out in our own private campground. The energy level was on full.

This year students had new fads and fascinations. At one point someone yelled, "Fun run!" and a dozen kids got up from the campfire and ran off into the darkness. They ran randomly around the field, circling to nowhere, whooping and hooting, and ten minutes later returned to their seats. What's the point of it, bewildered parents asked. There is no point, they explained. It's just a fun run.

We allowed two fires, which we built on bare ground without fire rings because we didn't want to scorch any rocks. The grown-up fire remained at a decent warming level while the kid fire grew to near bonfire status. Eventually they had to be told, "No more wood for you." Some things don't change.

When we remarked on how close we were to Halloween, conversations switched to scary stories. Someone brought up the Blair Witch Project and wheels began turning. When most of the kids had gone to their sleeping bags -- actually quite early, around 10 p.m. -- the chosen mischief makers stayed up. They slipped into the surrounding forest and collected large piles of sticks and rocks. They made Blair Witch dolls and hung them from trees, tents, and the volleyball net. They piled stones in front of tent flaps like it was done in the movie. In the morning the kids woke up and said, "Oh, neat," and that was the end of that thrill.

People started waking up extraordinarily early. I slept out near the food to chase away stray dogs and forest critters, and at 6:30 a.m. I heard the first chorus of morning voices. It was 28 degrees and many kids had slept without tents on large blue tarps. Their sleeping bags were covered with frost. They were rummaging for firewood, shivering. Ah, too bad the wood all burned up last night in the bonfire. They had to settle for a small pilot-light sized fire.

At 8 a.m. the first wave entered the caves. By 1 p.m. everyone was underground and the camp was quiet. I stayed above ground this year, a first for me. After 11 spelunks, I felt I needed a break. Instead I gathered cameras and sat near the exit. I took pictures of the muddy explorers as they came out of the hole five hours later.

By sundown we were all gone, headed home. We will compile all the pictures and make a PowerPoint presentation for the club. We will also post some of them on the Internet, so watch for a link from my portal soon.