In keeping with the Who Has Never Seen the Desert/Prairie/Ocean threads, who has never been in a cave? I’ve seen a few in the high basaltic cliffs in eastern Washington but, alas, have never gotten the chance to explore one there (they’re inaccessible unless your really into rock climbing) or elsewhere. I’d love to someday though. I think it would be a very exciting experience.
All right, I seem to be committed to posting in all of these.
So… not me. That is to say, yes, I have been in a cave – Mammoth Cave, plus a couple of others.
I’ve never been in a real cave. I’ve never gotten the opportunity, and the idea doesn’t really thrill me.
I’ve never been in a cave, but would love to give spelunking a shot. I do have a slight fear of discovering a group of disfigured, flesh eating zombie humanoids, but I’ve never been one to back down from adventure.
Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico offers a couple 4 hour spelunking tours guided by park rangers. You get a helmet and do lots of crawling and scrambling and get very dirty. The formations are BEAUTIFUL! You also don’t need to be an experienced climber or anything, but you should be reasonably fit (say fit enough to be able to hike for a couple hours.) It’s only $20 per person.
Mammoth Cave in Kentucky offers similar tours. As do a few places in Texas. Prices vary. National parks with caves usually have tours with boradwalks and paved trails so even folks with mobility issues can go on easy tours.
I have yet to get a chance to fight with the disfigured, flesh-eating zombie humanoids though. I must go in the wrong season.
A number of dissolution type caves like Carlsbad and Longhorn, a couple in Arkansas and the Appalachians, a number of ore and salt mines, several caves (lava tubes) from volcanoes in Arizona and Hawaii, critter caves (bear) in Colorado and Alaska, snow and ice caves…
I’ve been in several caves, I like caves.
I live near and have swam in the Atlantic, I lived near and swam in the Pacific, I even swam in Lake Michigan, my boat went through the Indian Ocean.
I have driven through the desert and the prairie. I have been in the Rockies.
I have been in castles, many castles, mainly in Scotland. I have seen Loch Ness, I visited Findhorn. I was briefly in London.
I have visited NYC, LA, Chicago, New Orleans, St Louis, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Philly, San Francisco, San Diego, Vancouver, Indianapolis, DC, Baltimore, Orlando, Tampa, Denver & many other smaller cities.
I have been to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Pusan, Honolulu and a few others.
I have sailed large boats and small. I crewed on an Aircraft Carrier. I even landed on and flew off the carrier. I have also sunk in a boat. I was once underwater, but only for 20 minutes in 1986.
I have been to the top of the Empire State Building, World Trade Centers, RCA building & Sears towers. I have also been far below Manhattan in a scary looking electrical room with leaking steam pipes and a raw sewage smell.
I think I have anticipated most of the upcoming related threads, so I will be able to link back to here.
Jim
ETA: I have ridden a Bike and seen the sky. Hell, I even saw a purple haze once.
You can stay in Western Washington and explore the Ape Cave. I’ve been through it a couple times, back when I was a teenager and still lived in SW Washington. Bring a gas (Coleman, or similar) lantern along - a flashlight isn’t going to do you any good in there.
It’s not the undead you need to worry about in caves. It’s the various oozes, such as the black pudding, the gelatinous cube, the gray ooze, and the ochre jelly. Also of concern are the assorted dangerous fungi. And don’t forget the drow and duergar.
Not only I have been in a cave, I saw a screening of the Goonies in Longhorn Caverns (and met Corey Feldman). Envy me.
All right, so why have you never been to Boston?
I know, its weird as I have been as close as Framingham & Wakefield just north of Boston.
I’m suppose to be back up their in April, I might try to get to Fenway this time.
Not me either, been to Chislehurst Caves in Kent. Supplied the sound system for a gig by (as far as we could make out) a satanist* rock band. As caves go they are pretty civilised, at least the bits they hire out for partys, no crawling around or wearing of hard hats.
- They were much nicer people than the Nazis**.
** The Nazis weren’t in the cave with the statanists, that was a different gig.
I have never been in any cave of any size or degree of fame. No desire to either. I have been into a cove, if that counts.
Have you ever been to you, though?
I just don’t get the reference.
Jim (Damn that whistling noise again, I must have a problem with my ears. )
I’ve been in dozens of caves, commercial and “wild”, in Virgina and West Virginia. This is one of my favorites. My advice to anyone considering spelunking, go with someone experienced, it’s amazingly easy to get lost in a 3D underground environment where there are passages leading up, down, left right, diagonally, any which way.
Probably his only sane decision.
Oh, you’ve heard it, it was Charlene’s big hit in the 70’s and is a kinda catchy but drippy easy listening tune.
Here’s youtube video if you want to hear it.
I’ve been to Cumberland Caverns in east Tennessee. At one point, our guides wanted to make a big point about just how dark it gets in the interior of a cave. They cut the lights and… I’m wearing these sneakers with glow-in-the-dark patches on them. It killed the moment a little, but it was amazing how well the shoes displayed.
-Lil
Upstate New York is peppered with limestone caves, for those who would like to experience them. I went through a brief phase as an amateur spelunker when I was in my late teens. I’d recommend Clarksville Cave; if you can schedule a trip with someone with equipment it’s worth it.
Howe Caverns is good if you want a more tame cave experience.