Thank you for your solo caving experience. You are only the third person to admit to actually doing a solo trip.
Sounds like it was a memorable experience :) Most cavers seem to condemn solo caving, rightfully so, but I feel there is more solo caving going on than cavers admit to. I feel a solo trip has a lot to do with the cave and the desire to be underground than a disregard for safety Thank you Jim Sent from my iPhone On Sep 15, 2013, at 1:03 AM, vivb...@att.net wrote: > My most memorable solo trip was probably the time I decided to go seek > myself after my first painful nightmare enducing divorce. It must have been > 1993 or so. Summertime in central California. I don't remember everything I > had in my backpack. But I felt it was suitable for my planned overnight dry > camp in a fairly small horizontal cave I knew, which was a 3 hr drive and a > fairly steep 1/2 hr/1 hr hike from home. I do remember that I had a bit too > much Jack Daniels in that pack. I probably also had my walkman and some tapes. > A Hershey's with Almonds was in there. That was what introduced me to > the wonderful mouse friend I made that night. He woke me up with his munching > by my head. When I shined my headlamp to see who could possibly be making > that much noise, he just looked at me and kept on munching. He let me pet him > while I let him selectively eat out the almonds. > I did a lot of staring deep into the dark that night. and listening to > the very rare drip in an alcove. I didn't even start hitting the Jack until > the next morning. Then I fell asleep in the sun at the entrance. > I think the Indigo Girls put it well- "I woke up with a headache like my > head against a board. Twice as cloudy as I'd been the night before, when I > went in seeking clarity". It was a hot hike out in the middle of the > afternoon. Whew. > I don't remember telling anyone where I went. It was fine. It was a > humbling, beautiful, learning experience. It was only disappointing in that I > found neither going passage, nor the meaning of life. For that I had to go to > Monte Python. > > -Vivian Loftin > > > From: "bmorgan...@aol.com" <bmorgan...@aol.com> > To: texascavers@texascavers.com > Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2013 6:43 AM > Subject: [Texascavers] Solo > > "So, how is solo caving different from solo trail running, solo hiking, or > solo driving on rural roads." > > It isn't. The truth is that one dark passage much resembles another and the > additional impediment of ropes and such makes it more trouble than it is > worth when the glorious outdoors beckons. There are dangers out there too, > almost as many as in a cave. Just as many places to break your leg plus > farmers with shotguns, none of which stops me from trespassing solo at every > possible opportunity. There is absolutely no way anybody is going to find me > if I'm out exploring previously unexplored jungle when I don't even know > which way I going to go myself. I was reminded of that the time when I was > alone in the trackless jungle of Belize some thirty miles from the nearest > road when a travertine shelf broke causing me to fall into a pit. It was a > scary moment but I climbed out with no difficulty. From this I concluded that > I simply needed to be more careful. Ditto for the time on the same trip when > I found myself eye to eye with a huge tommygoff. > > Some people are goal oriented, on a given day they go to a specific place, > tell people where they are going and when they are expected to return. That's > not my style, I just like to explore whether above or below ground, and > exploring means going where you have never been before. There is inherent > danger in that, but I also find it to be safer in that going solo sharpens > one's perception and causes one to move more slowly and carefully. Despite > any such danger there is nothing on or under the earth that I like better > than sneaking around by myself! > > Sleazeweazel > >
