Keeping Score in Warsaw Caves

Two weeks ago, the word caving made me nervous. Now I have my very own caving helmet, and I've been in a total of nine caves in the past two weekends. This weekend's adventure took us to Warsaw Caves Conservation Area, northeast of Peterborough. During the summer (I suspect) Warsaw is a zoo. In December, we didn't meet very many people at all (after all, boy scouts are small, so you can count several of them to make a person). I'd been to the caves once, over ten years ago. I remember going into one cave - and hating it. It was dark, it was wet, it was too tight, I wanted out (Score: Caves - 1, Johanna - 0). I was ready to even the score.

The first cave we did was Cave #1. About ten minutes into it, though, I hit a spot that made me uncomfortable - it required crawling on my elbows, and I don't like to go into things I'm not confident I can back out of. So before I hit a potential point of no return, I wiggled my way back. That's when I discovered the perfect solution to my cowardice: I let Lee go ahead (demanded that Lee go first?) - if he made it through to a space big enough to turn around in, I would merrily follow. If he got stuck, it wasn't my idea. Using this clever technique, I made it all the way to the end (Caves - 1, Johanna - 1, Lee - 0).

Somewhere in there, we were joined by a colony of scouts. Now, they may be small, but there were many of them (I don't know if I could count that high, though I know Kachina could - she'd demonstrated her ability to count to 100 earlier). It got a little tight. I wanted out. But fortunately, having a feisty little girl like Kachina along necessitated slow and calm travel out - and the urge to charge on out passed (those with new helmets can charge through caves!) (Caves - 1, Johanna - 2, Lee - 0). We moved on to Cave #2, which joined up with #3, since that's where we came out again. Kachina's headlamp stopped working (Caves - 2, Kachina - 0), but she switched to a mag lite and kept going. (Kachina - 1).

After lunch, we tried #4 - which is billed as having a "glacier" somewhere in its depths. The scouts were small and curious, and they hadn't found it, but we figured we'd give it a shot. Deep in the rock, Lee and I explored every dead end. Or rather, I lounged on ledges and said "go look down there, what does that look like?". Many promising leads, many dead ends (Caves - 3). The most promising, though, was a very tight passage that sloped down and required wiggling on elbows and knees. Even Lee hesitated a second or two before venturing forth.

But venture forth he did (Lee - 1). But when he reported that there was enough room to turn around (barely) a bit up the passage, I merrily (if quaking in my boots can be described as merrily) went where others had already gone to take a look at the tight spot that caused his turnaround. No hesitation on my part when I got there, I know when it's time to give the caves another point (Caves - 4).

Cave #7 wasn't much of a cave, more like a longish semi-cave like passage. Cool all the same. #6 started out very promising, with a long, straight passage, but it quickly dead-ended. #5 had some neat nooks. I stuck my head down one, and couldn't see if it would go further, so I wiggled down. It was big enough to turn around down there, if I contorted. Unfortunately, I was too big to get back out the way I came in - gravity wasn't assisting me this time. Stuck! I wanted out now. But I had nothing to push against, and my arms weren't strong enough to overcome the friction, so I started whimpering (Caves - 5).

Elke and Lee came to my rescue - one hand under each arm and a strenuous tug, and out I was (Johanna's dignity - no score, it went and hid in a very dark crevice, not to be seen again the rest of the day). Lee explored further, but I was content to stay out where I could see daylight and halfheartedly ask him if it was cool - hoping rather strenuously that it wouldn't be, because I didn't want to go down any more tight passages.

But Lee of course was not content to leave things at that (after all, keep in mind Caves - 5, Lee - 1). So away we went, to tackle #4 again. He wanted to see if he could get past the tight spot in the narrow passage. I wanted to see if I could go back into a cave without immediately wanting out. So down we slithered. Lee did the belly creeping crawl to the tight spot (Lee - 2). I took my safe lounging on a ledge position and watched. But when he took off his helmet because his head was too big to fit through the passage otherwise, I got nervous. Having just received first-hand knowledge of how much friction there is in these caves, I wanted nothing to do with a rescue operation that would require me to wiggle back down that narrow passage - there wouldn't be enough room for me to get into a position to pull anyone's feet (Caves - 6). I would get stuck too. I would be doomed to stay in a cold, dark, narrow cave. So knowing that I'd overcome my fear and gone back into the caves, I was willing to admit to myself that I wanted out. So I let Elke explore the tight passage, and I did just that - I got out.

Final score: Caves - 6, Johanna - 2, Lee - 2, Kachina - 1, Johanna's dignity - vanquished. Add 50 bonus points to Jim, though, for inviting us over for a hot tub on a cold night and the caveman wins. (I have the best adventure buddies!)

So... this Johanna overcomes her fears thing, it's okay. I'm all excited to go explore some more caves (after all, I have this spiffy new helmet). I even want to spend a night in a cave sometime soon. That would be worth bragging rights, no?

Back to the main page.