Subterranean Exploits

Whenever I am able, I tend to go climbing. It’s a sport I really love and it provides adventure and physical exercise. Here in New Zealand I’m also trying to open myself up to new experiences, and so I did something I never thought I’d do. I went caving.

Caving is not like climbing That’s mostly true. I did have to find handholds and use my balance. However, this experience took me about one hundred feet below the earth and led me through a one hour hike. Though it was a blast, there are some things I hadn’t considered:

Water The Cave hike we went on just followed a stream under the ground. It was a large cave, but the river really flowed, and sometimes went up to waist high. It was freezing, but I knew beforehand that it wasn’t too long a hike, and that it was mostly going to be knee-deep. I did learn that, if you’re hiking through a cave stream, it’s best to go against the flow of the water so you don’t get knocked over quite so easily.

Light This just in: it’s dark in a cave. Like, super dark. It was an amazing scenario whereby I was able to experience pitch black in a noisy river, but if I didn’t bring my headlamp I wouldn’t have enjoyed walking through the difficult terrain. Headlamps are essential to caving.

Wildlife The cave stream was a pretty well-trodden track, but I saw an eel and a fish swimming in the flowing water. It was rad, but also… I mean, eels in pitch black aren’t always the best surprise.

Beauty All in all the hike was magnificent. Seeing the unique rock formations of smooth stone and hard edges is breathtaking. The way the water wends its way beneath the surface is a strangely calming experience, and hiking up fast flowing waterfalls while underground was exciting and invigorating. After an initial screaming session where I discovered just how high the cold water was going to go, I spent the next hour with a smile pasted on my face taking all of it in. I would say I am mildly claustrophobic, but this cave had high (20 or so foot) ceilings and I did not feel trapped at all. I would strongly recommend this cave, and caving in general, to the adventure-seeker.

Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge, accursed, and in a cursed hour, he hies. Milton