CuatrodeMayo
11-20-2007, 12:44 PM
One of my favorite pastimes....caving. This seemed to be the appropriate forum =)
NewsOK: Earth's inner spaces lure explorers (http://www.newsok.com/article/3171019/)
By David Zizzo
Staff Writer
Since she was a little girl, Sue Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) has loved crawling into holes. Now retired, Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON)'s special sense of adventure has taken her to some yucky, cramped and amazing spots.
"I'll never go to the moon. I will never go to the bottom of the sea,” she said. "But I have been to places people have never been before.”
Many of those places are hard to reach, part of the allure for Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) and others who like to follow passages under the ground just to see where they go. Cavers, as the amateur speleologists call themselves, have many reasons for going down under. Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON)'s husband, John, a geologist, is interested in the science of the planet around him.
"I like to know about the processes involved in our Earth,” said John Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=John+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON), who lives in The Village with his wife.
Some do it for the solitude and absolute silence. "It's unbelievably peaceful,” said Duane Del Vecchio of Lawton, another member of Central Oklahoma Grotto, a local caving club.
But mostly, cavers just want to take the road less traveled, as long as it's underground. That road can be a tough one to follow. Often snaking through small "skylight” openings or dropping into sinkholes to enter caves, cavers explore passages that can dead-end in "sumps” of water, lead nowhere or wend along for miles. Sometimes they slither through crevices so tight, they must contort their bodies and pass equipment ahead of them.
And seldom are things as tidy in caves as they're depicted on TV or in movies. To really understand caving, as a popular caving bumper sticker explains of the environment below, "Think Mud.”
Some cavers — none in Central Oklahoma Grotto — even enjoy cave diving, the dangerous practice of scuba diving through flooded underground channels. In cave diving, you face the danger of losing your bearings or getting regulators, hoses or other equipment snagged while slithering through narrow gaps, all while depending on a finite supply of air in absolute darkness.
But for most cavers, things are exciting enough with their heads above water, even in the gypsum caves prevalent in Oklahoma. Although Oklahoma has the world's largest gypsum cave open to the public (Alabaster Caverns) and the longest gypsum cave in America (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=United+States&CATEGORY=COUNTRY) (Jester Cave), gypsum usually has little of the glamour of limestone caves, many of which are known for spectacular stalactite and stalagmite formations.
But gypsum can have its treasures, cavers say. And finding them — especially if you're the first to see them — is unforgettable. Sue Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) recalls when she and others came upon a spot that had formerly been filled with water and silt, one that became alive with crystals.
"It's just a beautiful little alcove, like a geode,” she said. "It sparkles. It's just awe-inspiring. It's the jewel that you look for and very rarely find.”
Serious cavers, like serious adventurers of all kinds, follow the cardinal rule of the wild: Take only pictures and leave only footprints. Central Oklahoma Grotto members also survey caves with tape measures, compasses and inclinometers, creating maps that are filed in some public libraries.
However, the cavers closely guard the exact locations of caves in an effort to protect them from those with less respect for their natural beauty.
Unfortunately, cavers say, too many caves are "trashed” by people more interested in "cave partying” than exploration. Such problems — along with worries over legal liability — have led many landowners to refuse entry to caves on their land. And, in Oklahoma, nearly all of the 1,000 or so known caves are on private land. So cavers must work hard to convince landowners they will protect caves and not take excessive risks in exploring them.
For safety, conservative cavers follow the "rule of 3s” — traveling in threes, with each caver carrying three sources of light. Cavers also must be able to recognize the types of caves and conditions that could lead to flooding. Still, casual explorers who ask "how hard can it be to crawl through a hole?” have been known engage in reckless behavior, such as doing "duck-unders,” which is holding your breath for short distances underwater to reach other passages.
"You would not believe what people do,” Sue Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) said.
When done correctly, caving is a safe activity. No member of COG has ever been hurt in a cave.
"It's dangerous only to the extent that there's no guarantee that a rock will not let loose when you are under it,” Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) said.
Once, Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) and other cavers were in a "solid tube” portion of a cave, when "we hear a horrible peal of rock falling in the entrance. Had anybody been in there, we'd have had massive injuries.” No one was injured, and the exploration continued without a hitch, but that was little comfort to a new guy exploring with the COG group that day.
"His eyes got real big,” she recalled, "I've never seen him again.”
So, obviously caving's not for everyone, said Del Vecchio, who used to find his solitude while freefalling during skydiving jumps. But for those who can appreciate it, nothing compares with slogging around in the Earth's innards.
"It's stimulating yet fun,” he said. "When you come out, you're filthy, worn out and you have this big old stupid grin on your face.”
NewsOK: Earth's inner spaces lure explorers (http://www.newsok.com/article/3171019/)
By David Zizzo
Staff Writer
Since she was a little girl, Sue Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) has loved crawling into holes. Now retired, Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON)'s special sense of adventure has taken her to some yucky, cramped and amazing spots.
"I'll never go to the moon. I will never go to the bottom of the sea,” she said. "But I have been to places people have never been before.”
Many of those places are hard to reach, part of the allure for Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) and others who like to follow passages under the ground just to see where they go. Cavers, as the amateur speleologists call themselves, have many reasons for going down under. Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON)'s husband, John, a geologist, is interested in the science of the planet around him.
"I like to know about the processes involved in our Earth,” said John Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=John+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON), who lives in The Village with his wife.
Some do it for the solitude and absolute silence. "It's unbelievably peaceful,” said Duane Del Vecchio of Lawton, another member of Central Oklahoma Grotto, a local caving club.
But mostly, cavers just want to take the road less traveled, as long as it's underground. That road can be a tough one to follow. Often snaking through small "skylight” openings or dropping into sinkholes to enter caves, cavers explore passages that can dead-end in "sumps” of water, lead nowhere or wend along for miles. Sometimes they slither through crevices so tight, they must contort their bodies and pass equipment ahead of them.
And seldom are things as tidy in caves as they're depicted on TV or in movies. To really understand caving, as a popular caving bumper sticker explains of the environment below, "Think Mud.”
Some cavers — none in Central Oklahoma Grotto — even enjoy cave diving, the dangerous practice of scuba diving through flooded underground channels. In cave diving, you face the danger of losing your bearings or getting regulators, hoses or other equipment snagged while slithering through narrow gaps, all while depending on a finite supply of air in absolute darkness.
But for most cavers, things are exciting enough with their heads above water, even in the gypsum caves prevalent in Oklahoma. Although Oklahoma has the world's largest gypsum cave open to the public (Alabaster Caverns) and the longest gypsum cave in America (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=United+States&CATEGORY=COUNTRY) (Jester Cave), gypsum usually has little of the glamour of limestone caves, many of which are known for spectacular stalactite and stalagmite formations.
But gypsum can have its treasures, cavers say. And finding them — especially if you're the first to see them — is unforgettable. Sue Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) recalls when she and others came upon a spot that had formerly been filled with water and silt, one that became alive with crystals.
"It's just a beautiful little alcove, like a geode,” she said. "It sparkles. It's just awe-inspiring. It's the jewel that you look for and very rarely find.”
Serious cavers, like serious adventurers of all kinds, follow the cardinal rule of the wild: Take only pictures and leave only footprints. Central Oklahoma Grotto members also survey caves with tape measures, compasses and inclinometers, creating maps that are filed in some public libraries.
However, the cavers closely guard the exact locations of caves in an effort to protect them from those with less respect for their natural beauty.
Unfortunately, cavers say, too many caves are "trashed” by people more interested in "cave partying” than exploration. Such problems — along with worries over legal liability — have led many landowners to refuse entry to caves on their land. And, in Oklahoma, nearly all of the 1,000 or so known caves are on private land. So cavers must work hard to convince landowners they will protect caves and not take excessive risks in exploring them.
For safety, conservative cavers follow the "rule of 3s” — traveling in threes, with each caver carrying three sources of light. Cavers also must be able to recognize the types of caves and conditions that could lead to flooding. Still, casual explorers who ask "how hard can it be to crawl through a hole?” have been known engage in reckless behavior, such as doing "duck-unders,” which is holding your breath for short distances underwater to reach other passages.
"You would not believe what people do,” Sue Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) said.
When done correctly, caving is a safe activity. No member of COG has ever been hurt in a cave.
"It's dangerous only to the extent that there's no guarantee that a rock will not let loose when you are under it,” Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) said.
Once, Bozeman (http://www.newsok.com/keysearch/?er=1&CANONICAL=Sue+Bozeman&CATEGORY=PERSON) and other cavers were in a "solid tube” portion of a cave, when "we hear a horrible peal of rock falling in the entrance. Had anybody been in there, we'd have had massive injuries.” No one was injured, and the exploration continued without a hitch, but that was little comfort to a new guy exploring with the COG group that day.
"His eyes got real big,” she recalled, "I've never seen him again.”
So, obviously caving's not for everyone, said Del Vecchio, who used to find his solitude while freefalling during skydiving jumps. But for those who can appreciate it, nothing compares with slogging around in the Earth's innards.
"It's stimulating yet fun,” he said. "When you come out, you're filthy, worn out and you have this big old stupid grin on your face.”