Destination: Bluespring Caverns, Bedford, Indiana

Usually I post a desert destination on Mondays, but this week I have a fascinating destination from the Midwest, where I recently visited.

One evening after cave rescue classes, I was able to get away to nearby Bluespring Caverns, a commercial cave with boat tours along the Myst'ry River.

(Photo courtesy of Bluespring Caverns website)

Our after hours tour began with the owner, Jim Richards, giving us an orientation outside the visitor center/gift shop. 

Then we walked right under the building and down a steep path into a huge sinkhole, with tall trees rising all around us.
As soon as we got near the entrance, the temperature dropped from the 80s to the 50s. The interior cave temperature is about 52 degrees Fahrenheit. 

We could hear water before we see it, and we kept going down and down until we reached the river. Bluespring Caverns has the distinction of having over 21 miles of passage in it, including three miles of navigable cave stream passage, the longest in the U.S. We boarded a boat to begin our voyage.

My pictures don't do justice to what a magical trip it was. Once we left the dock, the only lights were those on the boat, so it was dark up ahead and dark behind us. We felt like explorers (with a really knowledgeable guide). At times we could see that  the water was only a few inches deep, while other times we didn't know how far the murky depths extended.

Much of the cave has been explored by cave divers, who have found numerous side passages, like the one shown above. We could even feel some air flow from this hole. The cave was found in the 1800s and we could only imagine what the earliest explorers thought as they went about with rudimentary gear.

Being an ecologist, one of my favorite things was looking for cave life. I saw some white crayfish and also cave-adapted Northern Cavefish (Photo above, courtesy of Bluespring Caverns website). The fish seemed to like hanging out near the walls of the cave.  

Not only were the sights marvelous, but also the sounds of the cave, the gentle movement of the boat, and the river's current as it moved through the cave, slowly eroding away the limestone rock to make larger passages.

The tour lasted about an hour, and then we got to take a peek at the overnight facilities. In the winter months, the caverns offers youth group camping, with a boat tour, a "wild" adventure tour, and then camping on bunkbeds in an upper part of the cave. It looked like it would be a lot of fun.

I would definitely recommend a trip to Bluespring Caverns--it kept me smiling the whole time and I can still picture myself cruising slowly on the underground river. For more information, take a look at the Bluespring Caverns website.

Desert Destination: Down into a Deep, Dark Cave

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to meet up with some other cavers and go to a deep pit in Nevada. It's been a few months since I've been on rope, so I was excited to have a chance to go into a cave that was reportedly 160 feet deep.

 

We hiked up into the pinyon-juniper forest, and then the cave just suddenly appeared. There wasn't a big cliff with a gaping hole. Instead we found a small limestone outcrop with a gaping hole, but it wouldn't have been visible to anyone unless they happened to walk by it. I can only imagine the reactions of the first person who found it--and the first person who entered it, not knowing if he had enough rope to reach the bottom.

We had some clue how deep the cave was, and we brought two ropes for safety sake.

We also did some rescue practice before we went into the cave so if someone needed to be pulled out of the pit, each person would know how to do it. It's always good to practice these things before you need to use them.

On the way down we wanted to check out a lead that went behind these formations. It looked intriguing, but unfortunately didn't go too far.

There was an interesting moth hanging out there.

And part of a jawbone of a small rodent next to some rodent scat.

Bill rappelled down to join me and take a look around. Then Tom came, and then we went down even further into the cave.

I stopped to take a look at this lizard, which I thought was dead. But Bill later saw it twitch and considered doing the great lizard rescue. 

I rappelled down to the bottom--well almost to the bottom. I ran out of rope, and it was 200 feet long. Fortunately, the rope ran out on a steep slope that I could walk on. So the cave is definitely deeper than the 160 feet we had been told about--and deeper than 200 feet!

At the bottom were some large formations in a room that was about 60 feet in circumference and 60 feet high. There was one small passage off to the side, but it didn't go too far.

There was a lot of popcorn and what sort of looked like aragonite.

And a poor snake had fallen into the cave and decayed there.

In a little side passage we found a tiny cave shield, only about six inches across.

Here's Tom, who was happy to make it to the bottom. He didn't have such a big grin when he first got out of the cave.

Here's Tom coming up the last section. He had worked up quite a sweat. It's not so easy hauling your own weight up 200 feet of rope, especially when you only move about a foot or so at a time.

He's slowly making progress, escaping from the deep void and into the fresh air.

Go, Tom, go. He manages to pull himself up the last bit.

And then he steps off to the side and can get off rope and relax.

Although it's always thrilling to go into a cave, especially one that's deep, and especially into one you haven't been into before, it's really nice to get back to sunlight--or clouds--again. 

A Better-Than-Expected Adventure

With our very warm March, we spent more time outdoors than usual, and one Sunday we decided to take a hike to check out a cave I had the coordinates to. I didn't have much more information than the coordinates, so we didn't know what to expect. We packed up and enjoyed the hike, seeing a few splashes of color as wildflowers like Indian paintbrush (above) and milkvetch (below) bloomed.

This juniper on the top of a cliff looked like a bonsai tree.

It took us about 45 minutes to find the cave. I rigged a rope to check out the entrance and found this western fence lizard hanging out on a midden part way down.

I had managed to forget a descent device (never mind that I have seven), so I rappelled on a munter. (It's great to know different techniques--if you'd like to learn more, check out this upcoming cave rescue training.) Then I climbed out and lowered my husband and Desert Boy. Desert Girl didn't want to be lowered, and I wanted to move the rope to an easier spot to get out of the cave, so we went in from this side, where we could see the dark mouth of the cave beckoning.

We only found one historic signature in the cave, Cliff Bellander on June 25, 1955.

The entrance descended steeply over boulders and cobbles.

Before long we saw old, weathered formations. The floor was primarily a packrat midden.

The cave kept descending fast, and I was glad I had my 20 feet of webbing to help belay the kids down the steep sections.

Most of the cave was very dry, but we did find this wet formation with very pretty decorations.

The cave wasn't large, but it was certainly larger than we were expecting. And more beautiful too. It's such a treat when things turn out that way! Then it was time to head out. Desert Boy scrambled out with the help of the rope before I even finished taking photos. Desert Girl tried, but needs a little more strength.

She was happy to be hauled out.

I wanted to get a family photo, but those seem to be hard to get when we all look happy.

We knew the truck wasn't far, and the kids wanted to get to the snacks. So they took off. I was impressed with how Desert Girl ran through the bushes, jumping over small obstacles.

I was a lot slower, pausing to take photos, like this bitterbrush seed.

It was a fun adventure and a good day.

Underground in Nevada

 A couple weekends ago I joined some friends to venture into a couple caves to see if they'd be appropriate to use for an upcoming Small Party Cave Rescue Class. We met up at a primitive campsite, which made a beautiful relaxing spot.

The next morning we hiked to the cave, where this beautiful hole beckoned.

We put two ropes into the pit so we could rappel and ascend the 180+ feet in pairs.

Here's Bill on a slopey part of the rappel.

Once we got to the bottom, the room opened up and sported some large formations.

Here's a closer view of some of the larger stalagmites.

Chris took a closer look at an insect we found.

In one small side passage we saw a small shield, about five inches across.

It didn't take long to check out the cave, so then it was time to start heading back up.

Here's the view for the last part of the climb. It's great going into caves, but it's also wonderful to emerge to the sunlight.

On the way back down, Tom found a nice gopher snake.

We wanted to see one more cave that day, so we gathered our cave gear and rope and trudged up a hill.

This cave had a short drop onto a slope.

Numerous formations were stained with packrat excrement.

Over on the side we rigged two ropes for the 145 drop to the lower section of the cave.

Watching others go down, down, into the underground. (There's a catchy caving song that starts out with that line.)

At the bottom we checked out neat bones, formations, signatures from the 1920s, and even a little lead (that pinched out).

Once again it was time to climb out.

Seeing different caves always reminds me of the wonderful diversity of our planet.