Saturday Tiger Mom and I met up with a group of lunatics in the cavern riddled area south of Ft. Knox and descended into the bowels of the earth for a 7 hour adventure. This wasn't like a nice, clean, walking tour of some cavern with perfectly level floors and electric lighting. This was muddy, and rough, and in places tight. There is a certain anxiety to being a mile from the entrance and knowing that the ONLY way out is back through the incredibly strenuous route already taken. I'm a reasonably fit, solid guy of around 200 lbs and in two different spots i was in contact with the floor (chest) and ceiling (back) simultaneously. This was by far my least favorite part 
.
At one section it was a hands and knees crawl for 300 yards or so in peanut butter consistency mud. In another we could walk bent double at the waist but the water was up to our knees. By the time we got back to the surface I felt like I'd lost a fight with someone wielding a small hammer, it's tuesday and parts of me are still sore.
The truly crazy thing? We'll probably do it again (hopefully a different cave, maybe a bigger and dryer one next time). Lunacy.
tough to get good shots inside a cave lit by headlamps but here are a few.
RevRico
UltimaDork
1/31/23 1:45 p.m.
That's something I've always wanted to do, but at 5'10 275, I'm entirely too fat to get to the cool parts of the caves. Also scared to death of heights, and snakes.
But damn does it look/sound fun.
KyAllroad said:
before and after.
Soooooo.
10 people went in, and Only 7 came out. Yep, that's brutal.
I would totally do that. I was suppose to go caving in Vietnam in 2020 for 3 days. I am looking at something in Missouri here early summer like that. It's really interesting.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
Ha! I was wondering who would do the math. The 3 missing turned around early and went back out, one was a woman who felt ill and her husband and one was a newby who realized it wasn't really his cup o tea. The rest of us have between 4 and hundreds of caving adventures under our belts.
(I just noticed one of the missing was wearing a red shirt, I should have pointed that out in the beginning.)
That would definitely take me out of my comfort zone, but seeing that waterfall would make it worth it.
Maybe.
We've got caves here. In bulk. Easy, walk upright things, trekking through water things, short, long, and the closest system requires a permit which is issued with a code you'll need to get through the gate (code changes weekly iirc) because the system is deep and goes miles, supposedly even crossing state lines. I've been about a mile down in that one, and turned around once it became apparent I was unprepared. The reason for the gate is they don't want any more missing persons. Still a few unrecovered body's down there somewhere. Kinda creepy. First date with wife was spent climbing down the old lava tubes.
Mndsm
MegaDork
1/31/23 2:10 p.m.
Nope nope nope nope. I'm not scared of too much- being wedged between two absolutely immovable rocks is one of the things that . I just can't.
I tried cave diving years ago. Take everything you did and add a limited o2 supply and the ability to kick up silt so you are blind. It was fun and all but only did it once. No interest to do it again.
Tom Suddard
Director of Marketing & Digital Assets
1/31/23 3:30 p.m.
I was the skinny kid when I was doing stage crew work, so I was always sent into ridiculously tight spaces and hanging off catwalks with zero fall protection (OSHA? What's that?). It also pretty much cured my fear of heights.
I would definitely do this. The one thing that would bother me is mud/water on my glasses...
We know of a couple that are cavers. They are skinny and clearly bats. Really hard super no from me. If you like it, go nuts!
I love biking outdoors. Hiking, sure! Take a trail to the top of some mountain? Yep!
Climb down into the bowels of the earth and squeeze through tight, dark tunnels in the rock? Oh, heck no!
I had the opportunity to do some spelunking in middle school (FL), and at summer camp (MO/AK). Squeezing through tight openings, slithering between massive stone slabs, and realizing what DARK truly looks like was cringe-worthy then. No way I would do it today, but I'm glad I had the experience.
Some things are not meant to be seen. If you have to enter a tight dark space to see it, then maybe you shouldnt. I have a healthy fear of drowning, and I don't like tight spaces. I mean this truly when I say, berkeley that. Absolutely not. No thank you.
I don't think I'm claustrophobic, but I don't think I'd be able to do that. The earth has this habit of shaking itself without much warning. I'd hate to be in a tight spot when that happened. The photos are awesome though!
NOHOME
MegaDork
1/31/23 9:50 p.m.
When I was a kid living in PR, there was a forested mountain(ish) right across the street. We used to sneak over the fence and chase around the forest for fun.
One day we found a crack in a rock face and somehow squooze our way into what turned out to be a limestone cave system. Lord knows what even made us try to get in there the first time since it was a very tight squeeze into the ground. It was pretty cool and I am ashamed to day that we left a mark on what was probably a significant archeological find.
We were skinny little runts back then and I shudder to think about the mud passages that we wiggled into as we went deeper into the cave. I seem to recall that there were 4 rooms we made it into before we called it quits.
One of the more memorable features was the mud floor that fell off downwards in each chamber just before it actually touched the limestone wall. Never did figure out how that could be.
That would have been back in 1970 or so and since we covered the entrance again after the last time we went in, I doubt anyone has ever found it again.
Red was home. Yellow was my best recollection as to where the entrance was.
Didn't Dr. Jones and that chick from True Grit teach us to stay above ground?
Sounds super cool, and I'd like to think it'd be fun...but that's a hard "nope" for me. I had a cave system near where i grew up and every few years someone would need a rescue or recovery.
A friend of mine has done some pretty wild cave dives in Florida. Zero interest on my end.
Looks like a fun time that could quickly turn into a difficult time.
I took my family to visit the Corvette factory and museum back in 2016. We then proceeded to visit nearby Mammoth Cave National Park. It had Hundreds of miles of mapped and explored caves with a LOT more unmapped. One of the earth's natural wonders.
I highly recommend both attractions (assuming they are all still open).
Spelunking was fun but I think what we did was quite a bit more "tourist" since we didn't leave looking like THAT! One thing I do remember was there was a path in the park called "fat man's misery"
