Surprize Cave 6-28-08

It was one of those days when I just couldn’t get myself together and moving. Maybe just not enough caffeine to get me rolling.

I had to borrow my daughter’s minivan. I had originally planned on driving 6 of us from Morgantown to Plymouth Meeting to meet up with Amos and a few others before heading up to Surprise Cave in New York. Dan, Linsey and Mur missed out on a great trip. Something about having to work that day and sleeping though the alarm clock. I didn’t get out of the parking lot until 8:50 and got turned around. But John, Paul and I finally met up with the rest of them at the mall and took off from there about 10:00.

Amos and I decided to take a longer route in hopes to avoid all the small towns and two lane country roads by staying on the highway as much as possible. I’d like to think we made up some time, as we didn’t run into any really bad traffic. We’ll never know if the notorious Rt 209 was backed up as it has been in the past when we’ve gone up there before. We did finally met up with Steve and John at the parking lot and started to suit up and head for the cave.

Getting there is half the battle. 90 plus degrees in 80% humidity all suited up in caving gear and walking a half-mile up a steep hill. Tell me again why we do this? But then we hit the cave entrance and that cool air is wafting out and inviting us to come in to play.

We had twelve in our group, so we were moving a little slow that day (note to self, keep the group size to 4, maybe six at the most). It was a good group. We had a new member, Keith, from Philly Grotto with us. We also had two new guys, Brian and John, that we latter gave membership applications to Dragon Breath Grotto. They all fit in well. This was not any of theirs first caving trip. But their first with us and in Surprise.

We did the “Deep Six” and went to “Heaven” then when to “Hell”. Dropped down to the “Three Domes” and swung around through the “River Passage”. As we stopped and contemplated on whether we should go to the “New Discovery” we realized it was about twenty minutes before seven. Man time flies when you’re having fun. We decided to skip “New Discovery” and took the “By Pass” up to the entrance and out into the oppressive heat and humidity. Over all we were underground a little more than five hours. I also want to note the help we had from Dave and Hanna. They know this cave well and are very skilled cavers and are well adapted to associating with the youth members of Dragon Breath.

Some of the discussions that go on underground are part of trip that makes caving enjoyable. During one of our discussion Marcy came up with the thought that while we have a great monthly publication from the NSS, that it is mostly about caves, geology, science and such. We agreed that some articles or a publication by itself on such things and caving food, equipment reviews, caver friendly dinning and such was missing and may be appreciated by other cavers.

One of the most “left out of trip reports” part of caving is the social dinner afterwards. Following Steve’s lead we went to a restaurant north on Rt 209 about ten minutes. All twelve of us order a total of 4 pizzas of various styles from cheese and garlic to meat lovers to veggie lovers. A lot of great stories were shared and if it wasn’t for the fact that it was going on 9:30 and we still had to drive home, it probably would have lasted longer.

After our good byes and swapping a few people around in cars we headed home. And yes again this was a major part, but without any incident to talk about except the snoring of my passengers, of the adventure. Four hours driving each way and 465 miles helps make for a long day. I got home about 1:30 in the morning tired and sore, but happy I went.