We set out on Thursday morning for what is probably my favorite Pathfinder trip of the year. The journey is long--eight hours to just below the Oregon border. It is beautiful, though, with spectacular views of autumn colors and Mt. Shasta looming in the distance.
As usual, it was freezing cold as we set up. Freezing--literally. Someone spilled some water on one of the tables and it froze. I was just glad it didn't rain. That is miserable. The night was cold, but my tent kept warm. In the morning, we had a nice, hot breakfast and suited up for caving. Pink and camouflage duct tape were all the rage.
As tradition dictates, I led the party through Valentine's Cave without light. It was actually harder this year because there were more people, and they couldn't listen to each other as well. Even so, we made it out having built a little team spirit. The next challenge we gave them was that special test that only the bravest dare conquer--Buddha's Crack.
Buddha's Crack was discovered about six years ago by Austen Hardt, on my very first caving trip. It is a little less than a foot low, and extremely difficult to pass. It comes off of Hopkin's Chocolate cave, and leads to a natural opening on the other side of the road. I was really proud of the first-timers who did it; I struggled with it.
We did many other caves that day. Then, Mr. Abbas got the bright idea to go back to Buddha's crack from the opening on the other side of the road and map it out. I was amazed at what I saw as we took the time to guess on the heights of the ceilings and draw it out. It is a pristine, almost untouched cave with beautiful lavacicles and mineral deposits that gleam like gold. We explored two passages that we affectionately named the Siamese Dragons. One passage we did not explore, and it has been nagging at the back of my mind ever since we left it.
As Sabbath approached, we sang songs around the campfire that hailed back to our cradle roll days. The next morning, we were actually told that our club would be responsible for providing the church service if Don Smith didn't show up. Fortunately, he did, and I didn't wind up having to improvise a worship talk. As usual, it was held in the natural entrance of Valentine's Cave, and there were a record number of people there.
Afterwards, I went to the ranger's station and showed them what I'd mapped of the Siamese Dragons. They had no clue it existed and made a copy of my maps for their records. It was kind of cool, realizing that we'd just explored something no one knew about before.
That night, we did the famous Catacombs, the longest cave on the West Coast. It was difficult, getting 22 people all the way to the end of the cave, but we did it. For a while, five of us got separated from the rest of the group, which made life really interesting, but we managed to make it to the other side of the Crossover where the rest of them were waiting for us.
Sunday morning, it was time to leave. We got a flat tire and lost four hours fixing it, but we made it home safely, albeit late. For that reason, I am incredibly glad we have school off today; I actually have time to do laundry.
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