Absolute worst place for a flashlight to die

[ebow86]

Ok, maybe this type of thread has popped up before, and if it has please be gentle on me.

I was watching a movie the other night called "The Descent", it's been discussed here before. Anyway, as I was watching these cavers as they were going deeeper and deeper underground, I was thinking to myself, Wow, I can not think of any other situation on earth were you would be so dependant on your flashlight, being so far underground with no light for thousands of feet, maybe even miles. A deep cave has to be one of the most unforgiving places on earth. Sure being in a unfamilar house with no light, not a good situation, being a police officer in pursit of a dangerous subject at night and your light quits, an even worse situation, but can anyone even imagine the horror of being deep underground in a cave and watching in horror as you flashlight conks out? As the title says, Absolute worst place for a flashlight to die.

 

[MSaxatilus]

3:00am.... last sheet of toilet paper.....

:nana:

Kidding, this should be interesting.

MSax

 

[signal 13]

I have to agree with you there. I always carry 3 lights on me on duty so I don't worry much about one dying. I can always reach for another light.

Couple weeks ago, I visited the Natural Bridge Caverns in S. Texas. During the tour they said these caverns and network of caves were discovered around 1960. These caves go down hundreds of feet and it got me thinking what it must have been like back then when they didn't have Surefire lights and other high power lights.

I'm certain whatever lights they went caving with didn't have much output, throw, runtime, etc.

I couldn't imagine exploring the unknown down there with a dim light or lantern!!!

 

[ebow86]

I have to agree with you there. I always carry 3 lights on me on duty so I don't worry much about one dying. I can always reach for another light.

Couple weeks ago, I visited the Natural Bridge Caverns in S. Texas. During the tour they said these caverns and network of caves were discovered around 1960. These caves go down hundreds of feet and it got me thinking what it must have been like back then when they didn't have Surefire lights and other high power lights.

I'm certain whatever lights they went caving with didn't have much output, throw, runtime, etc.

I couldn't imagine exploring the unknown down there with a dim light or lantern!!!

Give this some thought. There is a local cave system near my home in pennsylvania called laurel caverns. This cave too goes on for miles. During the tour the tour guide mentioned that many years ago when the cave was discovered there was evidence that native americans would go deep inside the cave for various reasons (cool in hot summer, etc,) Anyway, those guys sure didn't have any flashlights or laterns, all they had were wooden torches, tell me those guys didn't have some gonads:laughing:

 

[ArmyMedicDad]

How about - 3am at Boy Scout camp, in the middle of the Ozarks, in the latrine, your pants around your ankles, AND then you hear unknown things scurrying :bump:

At least in those caves, you wouldn't be alone.

 

[kramer5150]

Give this some thought. There is a local cave system near my home in pennsylvania called laurel caverns. This cave too goes on for miles. During the tour the tour guide mentioned that many years ago when the cave was discovered there was evidence that native americans would go deep inside the cave for various reasons (cool in hot summer, etc,) Anyway, those guys sure didn't have any flashlights or laterns, all they had were wooden torches, tell me those guys didn't have some gonads:laughing:

I saw an episode where Les Stroud (or Bear Grills... I can't remember which) made a torch using slivers of pine tree, saturated in its own natural sap. The sap served as fuel for the fire, and burned a long time.

But yeah... I think being stuck underground anywhere (subway tunnel, sewer, coal mine...etc...) with no light to get you back would be a pretty crappy situation.

 

[soli]

I couldn't imagine exploring the unknown down there with a dim light or lantern!!!

There was a thread recently, which I am failing to find, where someone was exploring a cave on their own and their flashlight temporarily gave up the ghost, sounded like a very unpleasant situation.

 

[fyrstormer]

I have to agree with you there. I always carry 3 lights on me on duty so I don't worry much about one dying. I can always reach for another light.

Couple weeks ago, I visited the Natural Bridge Caverns in S. Texas. During the tour they said these caverns and network of caves were discovered around 1960. These caves go down hundreds of feet and it got me thinking what it must have been like back then when they didn't have Surefire lights and other high power lights.

I'm certain whatever lights they went caving with didn't have much output, throw, runtime, etc.

I couldn't imagine exploring the unknown down there with a dim light or lantern!!!

Any amount of light is useful in pitch blackness. You could navigate a cave system with a match if it could burn long enough. Your eyes would register every photon that hit them.

 

[kaichu dento]

Every time I think of my light suddenly conking in the middle of usage I remember the light I carried for half a year before coming to CPF and finding the L0D which would thankfully start dimming before ceasing to produce light.

That light I was carrying was a Zero Gravity AAA which was very nicely bright on its single level, all the way up to suddenly and without warning, shutting off.

Just shortly before having my first battery die on me in Japan I got talked into crawling through a tunnel that supposedly led to heaven, provided you were able to bear walking in, then in the gradually tighter and lower space which turned back and forth, squeeze out of the far end.

It still gives me claustrophobia even now just thinking of it, but thankfully my light held out until just a week or two later, when I immediately reflected on how happy I was that it didn't cut out while I was crawling along inside the length of that subterranean snake!

 

[nuphoria]

I could no more go down some scary dark cavern than chew off my own foot

Maybe with some serious flood lighting down there, I'd consider it

 

[AnAppleSnail]

I regularly go in tunnels that extend for miles, often with ladder-based elevation changes. During the daytime some light sneaks in, but if you cut off your lights, you can only hear your surroundings. I'm also a photographer, so I sometimes carry odd things with me. A while back I put out all the lights and walked around in a windy tunnel with a candle - caves have similar airflow. I couldn't see far, but I could see. And when I turned on the Quark on in Low mode, it was an explosion of light.



Rule 11 disclaimer: Storm drains are usually legal, if risky, to mess around in.

 

[PapaGary]

Couple weeks ago, I visited the Natural Bridge Caverns in S. Texas. During the tour they said these caverns and network of caves were discovered around 1960. These caves go down hundreds of feet and it got me thinking what it must have been like back then when they didn't have Surefire lights and other high power lights.

I'm certain whatever lights they went caving with didn't have much output, throw, runtime, etc.

I couldn't imagine exploring the unknown down there with a dim light or lantern!!!

Carlsbad Caverns and its miles of caves was first discovered in 1898 by a cowboy named Jim White who explored the caves for years with just a coal oil lamp. He had some creative ways of getting out when he ran out of coal oil.

 

[Sgt. LED]

Completing the job of limb removal in the field after somebody finds a landmine.

 

[red02]

3:00am.... last sheet of toilet paper.....

:nana:

Kidding, this should be interesting.

MSax

I'll do one better, 3:00 am in an outhouse. Exactly where do I step now??? *slip*

 

[shipwreck]

I've been on tours of caves in the past. I was told that years ago during mining or just exploring, people would get stuck in some of these caves for a long time. Apparently if you get stuck in pitch blackness for a certain amount of time, you'll come out permanently blind. I used to think this was pretty scary.

Going in caves really isn't my thing - I was a kid and my parents wanted to go.

 

[JNewell]

Ehhhhm...when it's dark? :candle:

 

[Jash]

Any place where the Sun isn't going to shine in the next ten hours and nobody knows you're there.

 

[adirondackdestroyer]

Easily in a large cave. I would bring at least 10 flashlights with me along with dozens of batteries if I was going caving (just in case).

 

[Roger999]

When there's no moon light, you're in a remote area, and a tiger is stalking you, then .

 

[jacktheclipper]

When you're miles from any civilization
In the the middle of the night
In the woods
and you're looking for the keys to the truck
that you dropped

somewhere