Your First Cave Trip
Below is a list of what you can expect on a trip, caving ethics and gear needed for a safe trip.
Caving is a very physical activity. Caves are totally dark- absolutely, pitch-black dark. Moving through the average cave can involve walking, stooped walking, hands-and-knees or belly crawling, wading, swimming, and even climbing over terrain that includes rock, mud, sand or water. Some passages are barely larger than your head and can require hundreds of feet of crawling. Others are large enough to place a good-sized building inside of. There is a good chance you will come out of a cave covered in mud from head to toe. It is not guaranteed, but it is very likely.
Caves in north Florida and south Georgia are relatively warm, about 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit.
Caving is an inherently dangerous activity. Cavers may be exposed to loose or falling rock, steep climbs, deep pits, slick surfaces, water and the occasional wild animal. You may be “inside” the Earth, but it’s still the great outdoors.
The trick is to have the right gear, training and a respect for the cave environment. A typical caving trip is an all-day affair. This includes meeting the rest of the team, driving to the cave, getting gear ready, moving through the cave, getting out, cleaning up and driving home.
Now the good news-
There is no other activity like it.
Our phreatic caves formed slowly, drip by drip, over thousands of years as slightly acidic water dissolved minuscule amounts of rock and redeposited it in crystalline formations. There are opportunities to see parts of this world few other people have ever seen. There are still new caves and new sections of caves to be discovered. There are vaulted chambers the size of a football field, rooms with clear crystals shaped like angels dancing on the ceiling, underground streams and winding slot canyons where no sunlight has ever fallen.
Ethics
Caving should be fun, but care must be taken as you move through these areas that are not designed for human traffic.
Caves are made of rock. However, they are far more fragile than you might think. In fact, they may be some of the most fragile environments on Earth. Crystal formations take hundreds to thousands of years to grow. A simple soda straw formation might be older than a massive redwood tree, yet break at the slightest touch. Even if the formation doesn’t break, just the tiny amount of oil transferred from your skin to the formation can disrupt the flow of water needed to keep the formation growing.
With this in mind, the ethics of caving are to try to leave the cave as you found it. There are even a set of Leave No Trace guidelines specific to caving. It only takes one person’s careless or malicious act to ruin thousands of years of nature’s work.
There is life in a cave. Bats, cave crickets, salamanders and cave crayfish are some of the critters that call caves home. Please take special care not to disturb them.
It’s your cave trip, but it’s their home.
The value of caves has been acknowledged by more than just cavers. Florida, Georgia and the Federal Government all have laws protecting cave resources. Vandalizing or removing formations (called speleothems) is illegal. In many cases, so is harassing cave life or damaging archeological sites.
Gear
The grotto may be able to provide some of the gear listed below to novice cavers.
- Lights: A headlamp is the preferred lighting equipment. You will need to have your hands free, and a handheld flashlight will make you miserable or worse. A minimum of two lights with fresh batteries is expected. You’ll need your second light accessible and ready so you can turn it on in complete darkness should your first light fail.
- Helmet: This provides protection from a rock falling on you, you falling on a rock or you standing up four feet in a three foot tall passage.
- Clothing: Long pants and short sleeve shirt will work. Synthetics are best farther North where the caves are colder, but cotton will do here. Wear something that can get ruined without breaking your heart (see the mud section earlier). Also, a change of clothes for when you get out of the cave. A small synthetic shirt is good to carry in your pack if your group stops for a while and you start to get chilled.
- Gloves: They will protect your hands from repeated scrapes and contact with walls and floor while moving through the cave.
- Knee pads: You won’t make it very far without them in any cave the requires ducking or crawling! (most in our region meet this requirement)
- Shoes: They will probably get irreversibly muddy and discolored. Some prefer sturdy boots with ankle support. Others have a dedicated set of tennis shoes.
- Water: A screw cap plastic bottle works. No pop-on lids and no glass. Keep in mind, you might be rolling over on your bottle.
- Food: A granola bar or other snack to munch on is nice whether you planned a 2 hour trip or an 8 hour trek. The exertion will make you hungry!
- Something to carry your stuff in: Zippers die quickly in the muddy cave environment, but for a trip or two, a small zippered fanny pack will do. Large backpacks are a hassle unless you are hauling gear but since this is your first trip, don’t plan to bring very much.