I had this cave trip on the calendar for awhile, but if I would have known this was the day after prom, and day before me going to Georgia for a week, I might have skipped it. But so glad we did not, especially because at the last minute, Anabelle decided she would join us in the cave because her friend Sarah Beth was also going. Mostly friends from church on this trip, with John coming over and meeting us that morning at the cave. This was a very crowded cave on this weekend, as there were a group of boy scouts in there, and a couple of other smaller groups in the cave also.
Sam and Davis led John to the very back of the cave and up Mt. Olympus. This was Sam's first time leading that far, and John's first time going that far back. And they must have been moving because they hit the Topless Dome in about 45 minutes, where it took my group (the other 13 people) 2 hours and 15 minutes to get to. John told me he was wondering if they were ever going to take a break. They made it to the foot of Mt. Olympus for lunch, and met our crew at Tumbling Rock just past the Topless Dome. Sam took a nasty fall near the bottom of Mt. Olympus. I did not see it, but saw all the purple bruising on his arm and chest.
Our crew did fairly well going in, and I never got the group lost, and we took many needed breaks. I let Cole and Rinoa try out a second passage near the dome, and we met back up with them after a short distance. We stopped at Wildcat rock pile to turn off all lights and listen to the sound of silence for a little while. After a prayer and a song, we continued on our way. We had some guys in our crew that were definitely struggling at times, some of the climbs are fairly tough, but this group was great with no one every complaining a bit.
Belle's favorite spot was the waterfall, and she splashed around in there for a bit. By the time we came out many of the group no longer cared about the pathway I was trying to lead and show them where to stay dry, instead they just plopped through the water. Everyone made it out well, Sam and Davis leading a faster group that beat us out by over an hour. And I will admit I got lost at the Wildcat Rock Pile on the way out...the cave is completely different going the other way...but if you look around enough, people have over the years marked the cave slightly...so we saw an arrow with an almost legible "OUT" pointing to one opening, and it worked.
Outside, we enjoyed the fresh air, and everyone groaned at the pictures I wanted at the end, but they were taken, and we headed back home. Cole's dad, Chris, rode with me, and shared some really cool stories of the Airline catering business on the way back. When a bathroom break took us by a Krystal, and Davis mentioned he had never had one, well, now we have. Another fun trip. I asked Ruby if she was ready...and while she did not answer, those eyes told me...not yet.
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