Spelunking

The skinny toothpicks ahead of me easily squeeze through the slabs of pure rock. I'm a little weary but my friends tell me that it'll be alright. Putting my faith (and life) in them, I scoot through the slight opening, sucking in my stomach. I reach the halfway mark, happy to be almost through, when all of a sudden I stop moving forward. Frantically, I try to push myself further into the hole, thinking I can still make it through. This only adds to my problem causing me to become further wedged into the rocks. I try to turn around, but my body will not budge in that direction either. Nothing will work. I try to exhale out all my breath imagine I am thinner, but to no avail. The stone is pushing against my stomach, and I struggle to take in my next breath.

Panicking, I call for my friends to help, all the while my heart is racing in my chest. Even with one person shoving me from behind while the other is pulling, I don't move an inch. My mind already begins to imagine a skeleton hanging in the place that I know stand. This will be my tomb. After what seems like hours, when in reality, it has only been a few minutes, I calm down and try to think logically. I realize that my panic has only worsened the situation. Finding my composure, we all give it one more try and finally I slide out of the crevasse. My clothes rip in multiple places from the rescue but it was a price well paid. I am out safe and sound!

Spelunking is the fancy term for saying exploring caves. Not having a lot of experience in this field, I went to my dad for information. The scenario above actually happened to him on one of his caving trips. He was terrified at the time, but that didn't stop him from continuing on to more and more caves.

Caves are all different. In some of the more dangerous, yet exciting ones, you must crawl on your hands and knees through a quarter mile of pitch-black nothingness. Sometimes, you are forced to wade through a small stream of ice-cold water in order to reach the other side. And the whole time while you are overcoming these hazards, your mind spins off imagining deaths that could succumb you. What if there was an earthquake or the river flooded while you are inside? Will you be able to find your way back out?

Inspite of the dangers though, there are so many beautiful aspects to be seen. Like for instance, the amazing structure the stalagmites form on the ground or a nest of sleeping bats waiting for the evening. Spelunking allows you to feel closer to nature and all its components and is a great activity to try out.

I give spelunking a rank of 9.