Lynx / Tawney's Cave Trip

Thursday December 21, 2006

by

Melanie Stern

Pictures

This trip was planned as an adventure outing for some of the youth in my program at the Bedford YMCA. The plan was that I was to go on ahead to Bedford to pick up the van, load it up, fill the gas tank and then meet everyone at the McDonald's parking lot on 460 in Bedford. Participants included Grotto members Mike, Neil Gunter, my husband Paul and yours truly, four of my students, Jessie, Chase, Barry and Clifton, a young lady from Ferrum College and her friend. Neil was to meet Paul at our house and then meet up with Mike as usual at 7:30 at the Park & Ride on 460 West. Neil forgot his boots, which we later found out was not all that he forgot, and had to return home for them, then Mike forgot that he was meeting at the Park & Ride and went to our home instead. Upon seeing that Paul and Neil were not there he panicked and thought that he was late and had missed them so he proceeded straight to the McDonald's parking lot on 460 in Bedford. I and my four students had no idea of the confussion that was taking place with the other participants in our group. Then Paul called and said that he was still there at the Park & Ride on 460 West waiting for Mike. While I was on the phone with Paul, Mike drove up. I informed Paul and he and Neil headed on their way to meet us. We all had a laugh about it when they arrived. We headed out for our day of adventure. Along the way, Neil, who is our gear master, realized that he forgot his helmet and light. Lucky for him, there was an extra in the gear.

We arrived at the Bat Ranch by around 10:00 and signed the book and secured the key for Tawney's. I made the decision to do Lynx first since this was the first caving experience for my kids and I wanted to see how they did on the smaller cave before making a decision on Tawney's. After a breifing on the cave rules and what to expect while in the cave, we proceeded to Lynx. Once inside, the reaction was almost instantaneous. Our novices were awestruck. No matter how many times you enter this cave it is impossible not to be impressed with the flowstone near the back. Check out the pictures. I led the way through the S-crawl. I might add, I was the only member of our grotto that did. Not sure why none of the others seem inclinded to do that crawl. I think it warrants some investigation. I, my four students and the visitors from Ferrum made it through to the very back of the cave. Jessie was slightly "freadked out" by the experience. I told her stay right behind me on the return through the crawl back out. Note my glowing hallo in the picture of me coming out of the crawl. She followed my advice. We spent a little more time admiring the formations and all singed the register then headed out and back to the van.

All did so well in Lynx that we decided we deffinitely had to go to Tawney's as well. We ate a quick lunch and headed up path leading to Tawney's gated main entrance. Once inside the cave, we headed for the "art room". After a brief stop here to admire the formations, we proceeded on to the "moon room". I had warned my kids that this trip would be "wet and muddy". None of them really "got it", but they do now. I laughed at their early attempts to stay high and dry when I knew what the outcome would eventually be. We took a short break in the moon room to sit in a circle, turn off our lights and crunch on some wintergreen lifesavers. After this we continued on to the sink hole. Some were confussed and thought this was the end of the trip and were slightly dismayed when informed that we had to go all the way back through the cave.

We took some time to admire the large number of bats that had come to the cave to hibernate for the winter. It was a good sign of a healthy cave. We headed back through the water to the moon room where a couple of my kids got a bit playful and one "accidentally" (unassisted of course) fell into the water. We made it back to the gate without further incident and headed for the van to clean up and return home. Chase forgot to bring a change of clothes so we made him wear a big black garbage bag.

Of course our tradition is to stop for Mexican food but we returned to the MacDonald's parking lot and then I took my kids home, then we went for Mexican. All in all, it was a GREAT day. We introduced my kids to an adventure they will remember forever. How can you beat that!