I’ve started going in caves again recently. When I was a kid my friends and I went caving a lot. There are little caves in and around Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois that are known to the locals. We’d just go in with a few flashlights and maybe drag a case of beer. Every cave back then had a party room for that. But I loved being underground in the cold and the dark and especially the silence. I continued caving off and on when I became somewhat more mature and explored more challenging caves, not the kind you risk getting too wasted in, up around Bloomington and out in Arizona. But at some point I became to old to crawl around for hours on hard rocks.
Very well said, glad you’re getting better and back to your old self. My best caving was done when some members of our group got “cave leader” certification and so we could go into closed areas and leave the tour guide behind. I don’t know how common this is but there are spelunkers around who have special privileges
Places on government land I'm familiar with require registration and maybe a reservation, but I've never heard of any requirement for qualification. If you're stupid enough, go for it, seems pretty much the rule. But I don't doubt there's some infamous caves that require pro-level skills that are regulated. I never had any desire to do anything technical, much less the attitude that I wanted to conquer anything. Me and my friends liked to go caving. We had no interest in spelunking. And as I think I mentioned, I just love the feelings of being in a cave. The big rooms are reminiscent of the big cathedrals in Europe like Notre Dame or Sacred Coeur. They give off a feeling of religious awe. The feelings in the small, tight passages are indescribable, for me at least. Something to do with a connection to the earth, and, counterintuitively, to the universe. It's one of the best physical workouts you can get, too, especially when you get lost a lot, which is the norm.
Very well said, glad you’re getting better and back to your old self. My best caving was done when some members of our group got “cave leader” certification and so we could go into closed areas and leave the tour guide behind. I don’t know how common this is but there are spelunkers around who have special privileges
Places on government land I'm familiar with require registration and maybe a reservation, but I've never heard of any requirement for qualification. If you're stupid enough, go for it, seems pretty much the rule. But I don't doubt there's some infamous caves that require pro-level skills that are regulated. I never had any desire to do anything technical, much less the attitude that I wanted to conquer anything. Me and my friends liked to go caving. We had no interest in spelunking. And as I think I mentioned, I just love the feelings of being in a cave. The big rooms are reminiscent of the big cathedrals in Europe like Notre Dame or Sacred Coeur. They give off a feeling of religious awe. The feelings in the small, tight passages are indescribable, for me at least. Something to do with a connection to the earth, and, counterintuitively, to the universe. It's one of the best physical workouts you can get, too, especially when you get lost a lot, which is the norm.