My daughter wears out quickly on cave trips, so we'd discussed splitting groups when she became tired along the way. The water was low near the entrance, nothing to worry about, and we stoop walked into the cave, soon hearing the first waterfall pounding the rocks. I longed to stay and soak in the sight, but my crazy kids were unamused that the cave is sucking cold air in near the entrance at this time of year.
Brian walked down the rickety metal beam near the entrance, and I instructed the younger kids in sliding down the bank into the stream. Alex was immediately dismayed. You may not know this, but water is wet. And cave water is cold and wet. He paused at every stream crossing and whined as the rest of us either accepted that feet get wet while caving (or were wearing knee-high boots). Lilly pranced through the streams thrilled with her hot pink galoshes--because the water wasn't over the top...yet.
We made it to our first turn to avoid the stream passage continuation, and Alex was still devastated about the wet shoe situation. I offered to go back to the car with him, but he said he didn't want that. However, we did remove the boots, dump the water out, and continue on with grousing. For once, I was ready to just walk in the water, and my son wanted someone to crawl atop the clay banks near the ceiling with him to stay out of the water. So, away I went.
We went the crawly way on to the lovely rimstone dams, and we made it to the waterfall and 70-foot dome. After that, we fed the kids because Alex was ready to have a tantrum. (A lot of that is hanger with him.) And all spirits were higher after that.
Photo taken by Amata Hinkle of Sunguramy Photography.
We continued on through The Raceway. And I pointed out the places people had grafittied to the kids and discussed why we shouldn't do this...for the umpteenth time. It seemed worse than I remembered with huge scratches into the ceiling for no good reason. In some ways, the scratches are worse. They are harder to clean and hide. And the more grafittied a place is, the more people think it's okay to leave their mark, too.
By the time we got to the register room, Lilly and Alex were flagging. Lilly had continued because Ben had promised her a candy bar at the halfway point. Ben added our names to the notebook in the register, and Brian, Alex, Lilly, and I headed back out. Aiden and Ben had never been to the end of the cave and wanted to go all of the way through the second breakdown.
Photo by Amata Hinkle.
We took the kids on a detour on the way out to Caramel Falls. That view never gets old for me; the way the water carved away the stone layers until they look like wood grain is breathtaking.
But Lilly got her feet wet on the way. The water finally went over the top of her boots, and she reacted exactly as her brother did. I think she barely noticed the flabbergasting view because she instantly had to empty the boots. 😆
We squelched in our sloshy boots the rest of the way out and hiked the short distance to the car, beginning the long wait. Three interminable hours later, we saw headlights in the darkness coming towards the car. Aiden was on cloud nine because he got to finally go somewhere only grownups usually got to go. And the most relatable pose is the one Ben is currently striking.
As usual, many thanks to Amata and Brian for the company and awesome photos! And we are always grateful to the SCCi for preserving caves for future generations.
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