Daily Dosage | #54 Go Spelunking

In celebration of my birthday, I wanted to do something that I have never done before. I wanted to start out my 22nd year with a bit of a bang. After doing some research I gathered some ideas. I was thinking of sky diving in Ogden, or a road trip to Arizona to see Antelope Canyon, but I decided to go with something a little more unique. 

Have you ever heard of spelunking? To put it in simple terms, it's exploring caves. I'm not one to voluntarily put myself in claustrophobic and tight, cold spaces... but I was up for the challenge. My sister married one of the coolest guys ever, and he had been to this cave plenty of times. I thought to myself that this would much cheaper than sky diving or a road trip; so, I went with it!

I brought along 2 other good friends of mine that had are recreational climbers and enjoy a good adventure. We met up around 8 o'clock in the morning and headed into Logan Canyon. We chatted and listened to music on our way there. We reached Tony Grove Lake, parked the car, grabbed our gear and started the mile long hike that was practically straight up hill. The camping spots are between hundreds of trees so close to each other that you could fit hundreds of hammocks. It was gorgeous and it smelled beautiful. It was slightly overcast when we walked, so it was pleasantly cool while we hiked. We were sprinkled with a light rain shower and as soon as we reached the top the sun peaked through the clouds. The entrance wasn't very large, but we busted out our flashlights and headlamps and started moving down into the cave. 

We hopped down into giant boulders of rock, stacked around like broken up puzzle pieces. The scent of wet, cold clay and dirt filled our noses. I was snapping videos and pictures as often as I could, but plumes of dirt clouds would wisp up around my face from navigating around the cave. We had to duck under and squeeze through tiny openings and help each other out. My friend had music playing that echoed against the walls.

We came up to our first rapel, 40 ft below, which was no big deal except for the fact that you couldn't see the bottom whatsoever. My brother-in-law went first and then we all followed along one by one. I love rappelling so much, it's probably my favorite part. I made the mistake of not pulling my hair back, so my hair got caught on the ATC. Not smart. I managed to get it out and not rip my scalp off. 

We kept climbing and going through small gaps into a bigger room. We had maybe 10 minutes of pure acrobatics of moving up and down, and left and right pushing against the rock. At this point, I was freezing cold and starting to get a little claustrophobic. We decided to end our exploring not long after that, so we now we were headed back, but not until we swapped ghost stories and had a strobe light dance party. We actually had to use ascending gear to get back up the rope... which is something I've never done before.

We got all the ascending gear sorted out and made one of the boys go first. I was pretty anxious and ready when it was my turn. Let me tell you, it was so much harder than I thought it was going to be. I went into full on redheaded-survival mode. I was using every thing I had left to hoist myself up the rope and climb to reach the top. We funneled our way back through to the entrance of the cave. The moment we went outside, it was like a slow dripping of energy from the sun back into our bodies.

We took a moment to breathe in the clean air and drink our water. We hiked back down the trail by doing some sweet parkour moves with that music never stopping. I took a couple more pictures, quick bathroom break, then we set back in for town. It was an awesome morning. It was incredible really, being with only 3 other people; but we were helping each other along the way. We looked out for each other and made sure that we were all set and ready for the next task ahead of us. There are tons of other caves up Logan Canyon, so I'm thinking this won't be the last time I go spelunking!

Thanks for reading! Xo

-Nick

Want a glimpse into rappelling and climbing?
Check out my College Girl's Guide to Rock Climbing for Beginners!
Don't worry, not a professional, more of a recreational climber myself!