Spelunkers R Us

 

The evidence is in! This was before we got into the deep water. I would like to note the young woman in the back warned us all that if she died in the cave she'd haunt us all forever. She made me laugh every class. I failed to get her excited about anything outdoorsy, as she said often, "My idea of a hike is going from one store to another at an Outlet Mall." 

Visit a cave again? For me, yes, please.

Anything can happen*

“Anything can happen, the tallest towers

Be overturned, those in high places daunted,
Those overlooked regarded.”*

This week the ecology class wrapped up. We went on our final field trip which was a visit to Sempler Cave, about half an hour from campus. One of the other professors at the college owns the property and he and his family are stewards of the cave. I will say that if one needs a way to lose the world for an hour or so a trip into a cave where you need to shimmy around rock and crouch through openings and wade through waist-deep water cave exploring fills the bill. Yes, the water was cold -- no colder than Wallowa Lake in July -- but there were cricket frogs and bullfrogs, and slimy salamanders and brown bats. On the property itself, there were horses, goats, and dogs. A place of peace and beauty and safety. I wish it for the world right now.


*Anything Can Happen, Horace translated by Seamus Heaney