HalfDomeRick
08-27-2007, 01:28 PM
When I’m not at the top of Half Dome (8,842’) I like to do other adventures. So Sunday the 26th was spelunking day. Caving. Journey to the Center of the Earth. Actually I went to California Cavern near Angels Camp. It’s a commercial operation thru a cave system that was discoverd during the gold rush! The formal name of the company that runs tours into 6 different California caves is Sierra Nevada Recreation Corporation. A few different routes are available. On some routes, you may be in water up to your waist or slogging thru deep mud. These range from family walking tours on lighted paths with handrails to hard core “squeeze through” spelunking with jumpsuits, helmets, and gloves. High top tennis shoes and knee/elbow pads are recommended. We took the 3 Hour Mammoth Cave Expedition for $119. Prices have gone up since I paid my $45 “back then”. Insurance rates have caused the steep increase. 8 is the minimum age. Tours are open all year, since the weather has minimal impact inside the caves. Temps are a constant 53 degrees. The only concern is the underground water table, which varies with the seasonal rains and snow melt.
It had been about 5 years since my last trip, so I took my niece and 2 friends on this expedition. We live about a 3-hour drive to the site in the Gold Country off famous Highway 49. The facility has a nice gift shop, showers for after and picnic tables. Bring a lunch as you will not have any food or water during your trek. And hit the potty. Areas to change allow you to suit up into your old garb. The dirt underground is muddy and will stain your clothes, so bring “toss outs”. I had done the crawl 4 times in the past, and saved a pair of old high top basketball shoes just for caving. 5 years in the garage got to them, because when I put them on, the soles just flapped open – the glue had disintegrated!! I had to wrap them with duct tape to keep them together.
A guide leads parties of about 10 and they are very skilled. They do the same tour a few times day. You are perfectly safe. Nothing lives underground (no food source) so you don’t need to worry about critters. Our tour led us single file along the “worm squirm”, the “pancake” and into the “womb room”. Some of our adventure was walking upright, but much of it was nose-to-foot on our bellies. The stagmites and stalactites were awesome. One caution – I brought my Casio credit card camera and took some great shots…but the last 20 minute climb up a chimney must have squashed it as the LCD screen is now ruined. Ooops.
The hot shower at the end was a joy – I slept like a baby last night!
I've also done the Moaning Cavern Rappel & crawl. But that's a story for another day. What have yall done??
*Carpe Diem Experience–Rick Deutsch-www.HikeHalfDome.com*.
It had been about 5 years since my last trip, so I took my niece and 2 friends on this expedition. We live about a 3-hour drive to the site in the Gold Country off famous Highway 49. The facility has a nice gift shop, showers for after and picnic tables. Bring a lunch as you will not have any food or water during your trek. And hit the potty. Areas to change allow you to suit up into your old garb. The dirt underground is muddy and will stain your clothes, so bring “toss outs”. I had done the crawl 4 times in the past, and saved a pair of old high top basketball shoes just for caving. 5 years in the garage got to them, because when I put them on, the soles just flapped open – the glue had disintegrated!! I had to wrap them with duct tape to keep them together.
A guide leads parties of about 10 and they are very skilled. They do the same tour a few times day. You are perfectly safe. Nothing lives underground (no food source) so you don’t need to worry about critters. Our tour led us single file along the “worm squirm”, the “pancake” and into the “womb room”. Some of our adventure was walking upright, but much of it was nose-to-foot on our bellies. The stagmites and stalactites were awesome. One caution – I brought my Casio credit card camera and took some great shots…but the last 20 minute climb up a chimney must have squashed it as the LCD screen is now ruined. Ooops.
The hot shower at the end was a joy – I slept like a baby last night!
I've also done the Moaning Cavern Rappel & crawl. But that's a story for another day. What have yall done??
*Carpe Diem Experience–Rick Deutsch-www.HikeHalfDome.com*.