wrote in message
ps.com...

Cannot recall the names. I do know Miles Hecker who is still caving in
WY. I know Bob Montgomery although we have had a falling out for the
last 20 years.
Dont get me started, I'l be helplessly pulling out maps and going to
check my old gear. The smell of carbide brings back so many memories.
Sometimes when I am digging in the garden, I smell that musty odour of
decay that you get in a cave and images rush back.
There are very few ways that a man can engage in true discovery in
2006 but caving is one way. The knowledge that you are the first to go
somewhere is a powerful drug once you've felt it and it'll get into you
and make you do things you didnt think possible. Going somewhere that
is so close to reality but so disconnected from everyday experience has
to be experienced. It is a primeval world down there and I can almost
feel that it is the chaos before God created light. The thing that
drives cavers is the same thing that drives people to want to explore
space, it isnt science, it is Discovery.
If you're crazy enough to really want to go caving, you oughta get in
touch with the NSS (National Spelelogical Society) on the web. Thye
can tell where your local caving organization is located. Cavers tend
to be secretive and it might be several trips before they allow you
into their clique. Its really a matter of who you would trust with
your life.
Caving was the least expensive sport I ever did. Store bought outdoor
gear just doesnt work for it so you use junk from other sports. You
always look like crap so there is no motivation for anybody to make
nice looking gear. My total outlay for personal caving gear in 1985
was about $100.00. We bought rope together. it is antithesis of
sailing where all the gear looks nice and is really expensive.


Ingalls discovered the Butler Sinking Creek system in Tennessee. I'm
regularly at the Colorado School of Mines and they have a strong caving
group there. They have even written software to predict where caves are,
just to find some new ones. Check out Spanish Cave in Colorado:
http://www.greatsanddunes.info/MarbleCaves.htm .

Also check out the Pedro Mountain Mummy in Wyoming.