Any cavers here?

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Hi all.

Last summer my wife and I took our kids up to Lava Beds National Monument, in the NE corner of California, up by the Oregon border.  It's an old extinct shield cone volcano, and it's honeycombed with hundreds of empty lava tubes.  There are about a dozen caves open to the public, and my son and I spent a couple of days exploring some of them, at times having to belly crawl for good distances, and push our packs in front of us to get through small openings.

I had a blast, and would like to do more caving.  I'm working on talking my wife into letting me buy a few things for it, a good coverall and some pads, so I'd like to know if any of you have done or are active cavers, and if you have any suggestions for places to go in the California area.

Thanks! 

[Mr. Whippy]

Caving is where I draw the line.  I have an intense fear of getting wedged somewhere and suffocating.  Underwater caving is completely off limits.

[sawman]

Do be careful as not to win a Darwin Award 

[Gareth]

It's not something I've done properly; just a few larger caves that were well lit and not at all cramped, certainly nothing requiring any kit.  I do like the idea though, just so long as I knew there was a way forward and no chance of getting stuck, so established routes only I think.

[Waterlander]

Caving is where I draw the line.  I have an intense fear of getting wedged somewhere and suffocating.  Underwater caving is completely off limits.

+10 !!

[Ashley]

No way! I'd be scared to death!

Sent from Ash forum mobile

[jzmtl]

Caving is where I draw the line.  I have an intense fear of getting wedged somewhere and suffocating.  Underwater caving is completely off limits.

I dunno, I think as long as common sense is used things should be fine. It might be fun to try a few times, but I imagine my size would limit where I can go in.

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Okay, well, I guess I won't be starting many threads on caving stuff here!!! 

No worries guys... I used to be a bit of a claustrophobe myself, but I found that like any other outdoor (?) activity, as long as you prepare properly and educate yourself, it's a lot of fun.    In a lot of ways it kind of brings out the kid in me, it's like being in one of those Mickey-D's playground things where you crawl through all the tubes and stuff... complete with the dirt, bugs, and all that!  LOL!

[Mr. Whippy]

Okay, well, I guess I won't be starting many threads on caving stuff here!!! 

No worries guys... I used to be a bit of a claustrophobe myself, but I found that like any other outdoor (?) activity, as long as you prepare properly and educate yourself, it's a lot of fun.    In a lot of ways it kind of brings out the kid in me, it's like being in one of those Mickey-D's playground things where you crawl through all the tubes and stuff... complete with the dirt, bugs, and all that!  LOL!

...except that a large boulder could break off at any moment and trap you, where you slowly starve to death the the cold dark earth...

[AimlessWanderer]

It's a no go for me too.

I have enjoyed some of the local guided cavern tours round here many years ago. There's a very popular spot round here where the UK Sheffield meet crew visited which has several old blue john mines including the wonderfully named Devil's Arse, and there are a few caving and potholing clubs I understand. Britains biggest cave (Titan) is also part of the network and is accessible from a few different caverns ...

... but if I can't walk into the area, I ain't going. Guided tours with mains lighting and ability to walk upright in normal clothing/footwear are one thing - hardharts, perilous stalagtites and precarious boulders looming above, confined spaces, slippy surfaces, several hundred foot drops onto stalagtites and dangling on bits of string are something else altogether 

[Gareth]

Okay, well, I guess I won't be starting many threads on caving stuff here!!! 

No worries guys... I used to be a bit of a claustrophobe myself, but I found that like any other outdoor (?) activity, as long as you prepare properly and educate yourself, it's a lot of fun.    In a lot of ways it kind of brings out the kid in me, it's like being in one of those Mickey-D's playground things where you crawl through all the tubes and stuff... complete with the dirt, bugs, and all that!  LOL!

...except that a large boulder could break off at any moment and trap you, where you slowly starve to death the the cold dark earth...

this coming from a guy who goes ice climbing?

[Mr. Whippy]

Okay, well, I guess I won't be starting many threads on caving stuff here!!! 

No worries guys... I used to be a bit of a claustrophobe myself, but I found that like any other outdoor (?) activity, as long as you prepare properly and educate yourself, it's a lot of fun.    In a lot of ways it kind of brings out the kid in me, it's like being in one of those Mickey-D's playground things where you crawl through all the tubes and stuff... complete with the dirt, bugs, and all that!  LOL!

...except that a large boulder could break off at any moment and trap you, where you slowly starve to death the the cold dark earth...

this coming from a guy who goes ice climbing?

So here's the difference:

IF something goes wrong, you fall fast and you're either injured in the fall or you're ok.  Same is true for falling chunks of ice.  Quick, no time for thinking about your demise (or not).

Caving calamities have that awful time delay effect--who'd saw off their own arm with a crappy Leatherman knock off after nearly dying from dehydration?  Not me.  The whole "trapped and I have plenty of time to think about how stupid this whole episode is" just is more than I can handle. 

[TMFKAMJ]

Okay, well, I guess I won't be starting many threads on caving stuff here!!! 

No worries guys... I used to be a bit of a claustrophobe myself, but I found that like any other outdoor (?) activity, as long as you prepare properly and educate yourself, it's a lot of fun.    In a lot of ways it kind of brings out the kid in me, it's like being in one of those Mickey-D's playground things where you crawl through all the tubes and stuff... complete with the dirt, bugs, and all that!  LOL!

...except that a large boulder could break off at any moment and trap you, where you slowly starve to death the the cold dark earth...

this coming from a guy who goes ice climbing?

So here's the difference:

IF something goes wrong, you fall fast and you're either injured in the fall or you're ok.  Same is true for falling chunks of ice.  Quick, no time for thinking about your demise (or not).

Caving calamities have that awful time delay effect--who'd saw off their own arm with a crappy Leatherman knock off after nearly dying from dehydration?  Not me.  The whole "trapped and I have plenty of time to think about how stupid this whole episode is" just is more than I can handle. 

and plus with ice climbing if you get hurt, theres ice all around you to numb it 
caving does sound fun though maybe ill try it if theres a place on our way up to washington state 

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

Okay, well, I guess I won't be starting many threads on caving stuff here!!! 

No worries guys... I used to be a bit of a claustrophobe myself, but I found that like any other outdoor (?) activity, as long as you prepare properly and educate yourself, it's a lot of fun.    In a lot of ways it kind of brings out the kid in me, it's like being in one of those Mickey-D's playground things where you crawl through all the tubes and stuff... complete with the dirt, bugs, and all that!  LOL!

...except that a large boulder could break off at any moment and trap you, where you slowly starve to death the the cold dark earth...

this coming from a guy who goes ice climbing?

So here's the difference:

IF something goes wrong, you fall fast and you're either injured in the fall or you're ok.  Same is true for falling chunks of ice.  Quick, no time for thinking about your demise (or not).

Caving calamities have that awful time delay effect--who'd saw off their own arm with a crappy Leatherman knock off after nearly dying from dehydration?  Not me.  The whole "trapped and I have plenty of time to think about how stupid this whole episode is" just is more than I can handle. 

Oh, not necessarily... the chances of dying instantly in a cave-in are probably pretty good.  Of course, I suppose it depends on where you are relative to the cave-in though.     But honestly, as far as I've been able to find out, that's just about the least likely way to get killed or injured while caving. 

I'm not going to worry about it though, I've got my hands full keeping myself from doing something stupid and getting killed outdoors on my own as it is...  If I worried about all the things that could happen while I'm out hiking, camping, backpacking, biking, etc., I'd never go outdoors!   

[BenH]

Thought I'd chime in here seeing as I'm a much more active caver than poster on here (fairly regular lurker though ) - spent much of my summer holiday this year leading an expedition to the deepest cave in the world explored by a British team. I'm from Oxford (UK) though, so I've not got many recommendations, and US caving is a very different deal. Vaguely planning to move to the States in a couple of years and give it a go though.

I agree, it's like an underground adventure playground, a really exciting sport. As for starving to death, don't think that's ever happened - you'd almost invariably die of hypothermia first Cave-ins, as such, hardly ever happen. You do get boulder choke collapses but that's a rather different thing.

FYI, Titan (Peak-Speedwell) is the deepest known shaft of any cave in the UK at over 140m. It was explored from the bottom up, taking six days to climb to what was the top of the aven at the time - a 50m surface shaft was then dug from the surface The deepest cave in the UK is Ogof Ffynnon Ddu (nice virtual tour on their website, by the way) - it's also quite an unintimidating cave for its depth because it has entrances at several levels. The longest cave is the Ease Gill / Three Counties system, which had a major connection recently.

Anyway, thought I'd mention it seeing as it's sort of my thing - let me know if you want any advice, though it might be pretty Eurocentric! I'm strange among European cavers in using a US-style rappel rack descender, but apart from that I wouldn't have much in common, gear-wise, with an American caver

[BenH]

PS you're lucky having lava tubes near you - they're not that common and look like a lot of fun!

[Pacu]

I always loved going to caves. Carlsbad, Mammoth, Longhorn, and a lot of little mom and pop owned ones on private land here and there.

I've been a bit leery now as on my last visit to Mammoth Caves -2008-i believe..a huge section of ceiling was laying across the path we went on in 2006. They said it fell over the winter as the ground above flex due to hot/cold cycles.   


and a he** no to cave diving. That is full of so much nope i can't even begin.  Ever see Sanctum? I'd need cyanide caplets as a backup.

[Heinz Doofenshmirtz]

I always loved going to caves. Carlsbad, Mammoth, Longhorn, and a lot of little mom and pop owned ones on private land here and there.

I've been a bit leery now as on my last visit to Mammoth Caves -2008-i believe..a huge section of ceiling was laying across the path we went on in 2006. They said it fell over the winter as the ground above flex due to hot/cold cycles.   


and a he** no to cave diving. That is full of so much nope i can't even begin.  Ever see Sanctum? I'd need cyanide caplets as a backup.

There's a Dual Survival where they do the cave diving thing... haven't watched that one yet though.  I'd avoid that like the plague too!