Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Post trip reports, requests, expedition announcements.

Moderator: Moderators

Forum rules
Do not post exact cave locations, either by roads or GPS, or post directions to caves.

Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby MadagascarAdam » Dec 20, 2010 1:54 am

Hi, I have a very specific question and hopefully at least one of you can help me find an answer! Are there any caves in the US where a person can go on a hike/backpacking trip for multiple days?

I really LOVE caves and have ever since I was a kid and never miss a chance to go in one. I like it most when I'm "exploring" a cave on my own, though unfortunately I've only ever had time to make it an infrequent hobby at best. Anyway, one time I was at the Crystal Caves in South Dakota a few years ago and went on their 5-hour tour (a lot of fun and had a great tour guide) and the tour guide was telling me about a cave trip where you could go for several days, you go down really deep, boat down a river part of the way, bring everything in with a backpack and bring everything back out (including excrement). Well, I also love backpacking for a few days to a week at a time, so this sounded like the most awesome perfect way to spend some time when I got a chance. I could swear the guy told me it was Mammoth Caves, but maybe I'm wrong. I was looking at their website just now and can't find anything about it, nor can I from any other internet searches. Part of the problem is my work takes me out of the US on a regular basis and I've got a good 9-month + stint in the US coming up and I'd really like to find a time to fit this trip in if at all possible (and if it exists).

So, if any of you guys could help me figure out if this cave exists, where it is, and how to arrange one of these awesome trips, I'd be VERY VERY happy! Thanks in advance!
MadagascarAdam
Infrequent Poster
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 1:48 am
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby rebelfirefighter » Dec 20, 2010 6:41 am

I've never heard of a commercial cave like that but there are wild caves that you could spend days in going deeper and deeper. It would take a group of experienced cavers.
rebelfirefighter
Prolific Poster
 
Posts: 160
Joined: Mar 30, 2009 8:40 pm
Location: Tunnel Hill, Georgia
Name: Andy Witt
NSS #: 63903
Primary Grotto Affiliation: Pigeon Mountain Grotto
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby self-deleted_user » Dec 20, 2010 11:54 am

Yeah there are! Check out the NSS site and find a local grotto and go to a meeting or so and get in on some cave trips and meet up with cavers! They'll help with what you need equipment wise and experience wise and find peeps to go along - caving is definitely a team effort!

I don't know of any show caves like that, as the prior poster said, but for sure there are wild caves you can do that in. Definitely try shorter trips first though and get used to the variety of things wild caves have to offer...caving is not like backpacking afaik....it's not just hiking underground like it is in a show cave...it's climbing breakdown (piles of boulders), maybe scaling some cliffs, sometimes needing to rig ropes to rappel, crawling, belly crawling, you're not out in the elements but hypothermia is a concern especially when wet, if something happens you aren't out on the surface, you're deep underground. I've been told assume (depending on cave difficulty and how bad the injury/being stuck is) 5-10x longer to be rescued than it did for you to get to that point. You can think of how bad a simple broken ankle could be if you are miles back into a cave...just makes for more things to think about and more situations to try and prepare best you can for.

Just some things to think about - if you are assuming it's just like hiking but underground...erm...yeah no. Hiking I find SO MUCH easier than caving!
Self-deleted due to large troll population on the forum, and absence of moderation.
self-deleted_user
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 1408
Joined: Aug 6, 2010 8:33 pm
Location: Offline, in real life, with real cavers.
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby MadagascarAdam » Dec 20, 2010 12:18 pm

Thanks guys. I found the info about looking for a "grotto" elsewhere on this website, so I looked it up and will try to attend their local meeting next week.

And yeah, I definitely wouldn't expect it to be quite the same as hiking above-ground, though I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. I have to be honest and say I'm not really into rock-climbing (at least not the purely vertical kind, scrambling over steep rocks isn't really a big deal to me as long as there's not a super long ways to fall... and rappelling is probably alright, if it seems pretty secure). But all the crawling and squeezing and all that sort of thing is something I really love about exploring caves. I've been to a decent number of commercial caves, but also several that weren't commercial at all and it's the non-commercial stuff I've loved the best (flashlights only, more difficult passages, and all that) and several of them I returned to quite a few times. My parents used to do that sort of thing when they were teenagers, so they took me a few times as a kid too and it's always just been awesome. I've heard a lot about injuries down in caves and all that before, so I know some of the standard risks involved. I think maybe I was assuming about this long trip I'd heard of that maybe a significant portion of it (maybe half or more) was kind of like normal backpacking, but in a cave, but I think that was just my assumptions.

Anyway, I suppose the allure of a commercial cave offering a multi-day trip is that it probably would be a bit safer, the route probably having been traversed plenty of times before, slim chance of getting lost, etc. I think those things would make my wife really happy! She's come with me into some long cave trips before, but she's definitely not up for anything that would take a full day or more, and I wouldn't want her to worry too much about me. Anyway, I've always wanted to be more involved in local, non-commercial caves, so I'm going to check out this grotto nearby and see what they're doing and if they'll let me join in for a while. But if anyone else actually has heard of a multi-day trip in a commercial cave (or even a well-known non-commercial cave that would be great for that sort of thing, and possibly on the easier side of the difficulty scale) then please let me know!
MadagascarAdam
Infrequent Poster
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 1:48 am
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby Mudduck » Dec 20, 2010 12:36 pm

Where your from would help. A grotto is definately a place to start. Multi day cave trips would be open to interpretation. If your going to "x" cave and its listed as being 6000 feet. That does'nt always mean that theres not more cave to find. That just means that no one has discovered the rest of it. While thats not true in every case its definately a possibility. Point being you can make a multi day trip out of any length cave if you truly want to explore it. The problem going to come in finding a cave available to do that in with respect to the owners. Government caves are closed and most private organizations must give special permission for such a venture(overnight). Thats where a grotto will come in handy. Some patience will be required this won't happen overnight(no pun intended) :big grin:
I think I can...I think I can...I think I can
Mudduck
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 452
Joined: Jan 1, 2008 6:56 pm
Location: Columbus, MS
Name: Bill Reed
NSS #: 60046
Primary Grotto Affiliation: Currently a Lone caver
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby Chads93GT » Dec 20, 2010 4:29 pm

FYI, river cave camping SUCKS.

Just dont expect to join a grotto and immediately expect them to take you on a trip like that, those kinds of trips I have only ever heard of people doing becuase they are surveying deep in a cave. IE people dont usually go on a multi day camp trip in a cave just for the heck of it. Also, if someone just joined my grotto, no way would I immediately take them on a trip like that, even if they thought they could do it. You have to cave with people so they learn to trust you, observe your ability and competence first hand, as well as your strengths and weaknesses.

Granted, sure you can do a multi day trip into mammoth, but its not a wild tour the national park offers, those kinds of trips are done by CRF and again, its all done for the purpose of surveying. Learning to survey and joining the CRF would be the key to doing that in Mammoth. Some guys I know did a 5 day trip in Mammoth and had just got out of the cave when I went a while back.
User avatar
Chads93GT
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 2294
Joined: Jun 24, 2008 1:27 pm
Location: Missouri
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby self-deleted_user » Dec 20, 2010 6:37 pm

Somehow I doubt there is any easy multi-day trip in a cave haha. And dangit, about 6-8 hours is prolly my limit for caving at this point depending on difficulty -but even then my difficulty might be different from someone else's - for me difficult means a lot of climbing, not so much bouldering but more vertically climbing - however I have a friend who's version of difficult cave is one with a lot of crawling. Crawling to me is easy.

And yeah what Chad said, don't expect to go on a trip like that right away. For your benefit too and not just to learn what all there is to it and getting used to how to move underground but also personalities...I've been on some trips and thought "grahhh never want to cave with these people again I can't stand them" because we just don't click somehow. I've been on other trips and thought "this is a blast these people are awesome you'd never guess we just met yesterday the way we're carrying on it's like we've known each other years!" And also it helps to have people who complement you well...like...I'm not a strong climber, I know this so it's good if at least one of my buddies along is a good spotter if I need help. And too, more you cave together more you know how to help each other out and work together. In the UK, I quickly learned Les was great for a spotter and I did some climbs I almost shudder to think I did, I did them because I trusted him both in spotting and also his gauge of my abilities that I could do it. Hatstand I don't remember him ever spotting me at all, but he often had good advice for approach that worked well for me (and of course was there to laugh if I did something that looked really silly :grin: ). That's what I mean by complementing each other - it's actually pretty cool....I love trips that just work out well because of how famously everyone gets along.
Self-deleted due to large troll population on the forum, and absence of moderation.
self-deleted_user
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 1408
Joined: Aug 6, 2010 8:33 pm
Location: Offline, in real life, with real cavers.
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby KeyserSoze » Dec 21, 2010 9:26 pm

I have been caving regularly for three years and have not done a multi-day caving trip yet. I've slept in a cave before but it wasn't on a real caving trip, I was just avoiding tent-camping out in the cold. It's fun sleeping in a cave.
This signature is really funny
User avatar
KeyserSoze
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 227
Joined: Nov 6, 2007 2:18 pm
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
NSS #: 61069
Primary Grotto Affiliation: Louisville Grotto
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby commanderzoom » Dec 22, 2010 2:00 am

Chads93GT wrote:FYI, river cave camping SUCKS.

Just dont expect to join a grotto and immediately expect them to take you on a trip like that, those kinds of trips I have only ever heard of people doing becuase they are surveying deep in a cave. IE people dont usually go on a multi day camp trip in a cave just for the heck of it. Also, if someone just joined my grotto, no way would I immediately take them on a trip like that, even if they thought they could do it. You have to cave with people so they learn to trust you, observe your ability and competence first hand, as well as your strengths and weaknesses.

Granted, sure you can do a multi day trip into mammoth, but its not a wild tour the national park offers, those kinds of trips are done by CRF and again, its all done for the purpose of surveying. Learning to survey and joining the CRF would be the key to doing that in Mammoth. Some guys I know did a 5 day trip in Mammoth and had just got out of the cave when I went a while back.


Also so they can make sure you aren't a pervert in the scary way or an axe murderer. Some people are downright strange in a bad way and not people you want to be stuck underground with. Sometimes personalities clash and it's better to learn that ahead of time. Go on shorter caving trips to get to know people before you even THINK about a multi-day trip.

I've never done a multi-day caving trip and I don't think I'd like to. I love hitting up the fast food joint then going home for a hot shower after caving, not sitting down to a cold meal out of a can or heating food up over a little camp stove or whatever. Camping out underground doesn't sound at all appealing and falls more in the potential nightmare range for me. I love caving but not that much. I'm not that hardcore.
commanderzoom
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 287
Joined: May 28, 2009 5:15 pm
Location: MO
NSS #: 61484
Primary Grotto Affiliation: MVG
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby commanderzoom » Dec 22, 2010 2:08 am

There are several show caves that offer wild cave tours, just not overnight wild cave tours. You may want to look into some of those because they send a guide in with you so you can't get lost or get into something you can't handle. The one's I've seen were kind of expensive, at least to me since I can get into wild caves for free and all, but apparently people sign up for them. What state are you in?
commanderzoom
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 287
Joined: May 28, 2009 5:15 pm
Location: MO
NSS #: 61484
Primary Grotto Affiliation: MVG
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby MadagascarAdam » Dec 24, 2010 12:33 am

I'm in Oklahoma (or I will be for the next 9 months or so) - Tulsa area. I've looked up the grotto online and it sounds like they meet once a month, so I'll try to go to the next one in January.

I understand what you're all saying about people have to get to know you and see if you're capable and if personalities match and all that stuff. That definitely makes sense and it's always an issue with any group camping. I guess I figured if there were a commercial trip like that, then the guide/leader just keeps everything orderly or something. But anyway, maybe the difficulty of that is why those sorts of extended commercial tours don't exist. I'm coming back from South Africa just now and there they have a commercial tour for basically anything you can think of, so that's why it also wouldn't have surprised me based on what I'd heard several years ago.

But yeah, I have been on several commercial "wild cave" tours before, 2 or 3 here in the States and a couple in South Africa. And I've been in other "wild caves" before too (unregulated and non-commercial anyway) with just some friends. But none of them were quite so large nor were any of my friends at all willing to make it (the one that was potentially a lot larger) an extended tour. So yeah, I'll join one of those grotto groups and hopefully they can take me on some cool trips and then maybe we could organize a long trip together. Anyway, since everyone's got the same story, I guess something that's easy to just sign up for and plan to do doesn't really exist here in the States. Thanks for all the help everyone!
MadagascarAdam
Infrequent Poster
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 1:48 am
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby Mudduck » Dec 24, 2010 9:47 am

You have to remember that in the US everything is about "liability". Everyone sues everyone. To me thats a lot of what it boils down to. If someone here were to do extreme trips based on a sign up list or for hire as in the case of a wild tour. Many people would participate without knowing exactly what expedition style caving entails. At the point the safety of the individual , the leader and the group is serverely compromised. You don't get many second chances deep in a cave environment. No ones trying to be difficult but there are many physical and really a LOT of mental things to overcome when on an extended stay deep in a cave. Most people are'nt thinking about just the simple fact of hauling your personal waste out in a bag. Something I've experienced with my caving buddy is that claustrophobia can have a cumulative effect over time. Even those who are normally uneffected. I've had him become nervous and combative after many hours underground(granted hes a lot better in a large group). These are some of the many issues that must be dealt with in this type of caving. I'm pretty liberal with taking people caving, I have a enough loaner gear for 5 people or so. But I'd have to cave with you or anyone for a few months before I'd consider a trip like that with anyone.

P.S. In rereading my post I should mention I usually take young scouts to Racoon Mtn in Chattanooga, TN for an overnight "wild" trip before I'll start them on "real" caving.
I think I can...I think I can...I think I can
Mudduck
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 452
Joined: Jan 1, 2008 6:56 pm
Location: Columbus, MS
Name: Bill Reed
NSS #: 60046
Primary Grotto Affiliation: Currently a Lone caver
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby Anonymous_Coward » Jul 5, 2011 5:27 pm

Cumberland Caverns in TN used to offer an overnight trip. Not sure if they still do, but it was a lot of fun and would be a great introduction to underground camping.
Andy Armstrong
American Carbide Council
User avatar
Anonymous_Coward
NSS Hall Of Fame Poster
 
Posts: 895
Joined: Feb 3, 2006 1:40 pm
Location: Inside the Beehive
NSS #: 45993RL FE
Primary Grotto Affiliation: Paha Sapa Grotto
  

Re: Multi-day Hiking Caves?

Postby MadagascarAdam » Apr 26, 2021 1:16 pm

Anonymous_Coward wrote:Cumberland Caverns in TN used to offer an overnight trip. Not sure if they still do, but it was a lot of fun and would be a great introduction to underground camping.


Hey everyone... funny running into this so many years later! I actually had the exact same question and I had apparently forgotten I had asked all of you this over 10 years ago. So I was doing a google search looking for the same answers again, and I came upon this forum and I was most of the way through reading my own first post here before I realized it sounded exactly like me and I looked and it was me! Haha, hilarious!

Well, I can tell you I joined the local grotto group in Tulsa that year and we did maybe 5-6 caving trips together, all were a TON of fun and they were a great group and I learned a lot from them. Our one trip we were going to take where I was going to learn more of the technical aspects of surveying unfortunately got interrupted, so I didn't get that far that year. Then after that, back overseas and without any long-enough trips in return here to the US to get into it again. However, I've now moved *back* to the US long-term, and my sons (9 & 5 years old) also enjoy the bit of caving they've been able to do so far, and so I had the same question again: where can I go on an overnight camping/caving trip? Which led me back to here.

And, I don't think I ever saw @Anonymous_Coward's response to me from way back then. Now I see it, I looked up Cumberland Caverns, and I see they *still* do overnight caving trips! I don't know all the details yet, but their website has quite a few options. A bit pricy, but I'm at a different stage in life now too and I think it's feasible. So I'm very excited to try this out! Not only that, but I can take at least one of my sons on at least one of those tours! So, though my thanks is VERY late, I wanted to say "thank you" @Anonymous_Coward. And if anyone else comes looking - this seems to be the best (only?) commercial option for anyone who wants to do an overnight cave camping trip.

Also, now I need to find a local grotto to join again now that I'm back long-term in the US (in Northwest Arkansas).
MadagascarAdam
Infrequent Poster
 
Posts: 4
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 1:48 am
  


Return to Trips & Expeditions Forum

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users