On October 6th, I went underground for 2 hours. In a cave. Not any of that commercial stuff, an actual cave with rocks, ledges, and bats.
It was scary and pushed me to my limits, so I want to talk about it so I’ll never ever forget.
The preparation was very precise.
Our teacher told us to wear boots with good grip so we didn’t slip (I still did), clothes we didn’t care about, trash bags, sneakers, and gloves. My mom and I took a trip to GoodWill and picked out a sweatshirt and sweatpants to wear over my t-shirt and jeans. Blessings to the people who recommended bringing trash bags because my clothes were dirty.
The trip up the mountain…
We had to walk up a mountain for about 10 minutes to get to the cave entrance. It was a steep incline so our calves were killing us! What a fun way to get exercise, huh? It doesn’t always have to be a trip to the gym. Get out there in nature and get moving.
Get ready to enter the cave.
The hole in the ground. We entered through a hole. It wasn’t jump down into the hole underneath you, but it was walking in very carefully. Once we all got in, there were steps that someone had carved out. They were slippery, due to the water dripping down from the top of the cave. The instructors reminded us to turn our headlamps on (there’s no light bulbs in natural caves!) so we didn’t fall.
Crawl Spaces… Ahh.
There were certain parts of the cave where you had to army crawl. I was afraid of this at first, because I don’t like being in enclosed spaces very much. Towards the end of the crawl, I stepped in a huge puddle…delightful.
Sitting in COMPLETE Darkness.
Once we found a space for all of us to sit down safely, our instructor told us what we were going to do: Sit in complete darkness and silence. 1…2….3. We all turned off our headlamps.
I can’t even begin to explain what this was like. As a kid, turning off the light in the bathroom and hiding seems like darkness, but this was different. This group of 9th graders sat and listened to the sound of the cave.
It was so cool!
I Totally Recommend.
Of course, go with some friends. This is what the instructors told us because if there was a problem, you definitely do NOT want to be alone in a dark and scary place.
It pushed me out of my comfort zone and I explored nature! So fun.
Good Products to Take With You!
- Camelbak Water Bottles are indestructible.
- Larabars are super easy to eat and stash away.
- Flashlights are an absolute must.
- Super fashionable hiking boots 😉
- Without hair ties, I would have probably lost my footing and died. Bless.
LOVE YOU ALL!
xoxo Mere
a classic confidence 