Got to try out my lights in a REAL cave

[houser23]

Looks to me like a limestone mine and would explain the hand saw. I'm very envious to say the least.:thumbsup:

 

[LightCrazy]

Those are amazing pictures and great narration. Thank you for sharing them with us. I wish there were caves like that around me. I'll probably never get to travel to see those beautiful sites.

 

[subwoofer]

Looks to me like a limestone mine and would explain the hand saw. I'm very envious to say the least.:thumbsup:

Indeed it is a limestone mine. The very one that produced the stone for Buckingham Palace and pretty much all of Bath

Thanks for sharing. That's pretty damn cool!
I have a love/hate relationship with caves, I LOVE to visit known caverns that have some space, but I have to be very careful not to trigger my mild claustrophobia <sigh>.

I can get claustrophobia, but this generally relates to a lot of people being present. The mine is huge and even regular visitors say they have maybe once or twice bumped into another group. Once you get going and the excitement of exploring takes over it is easy to forget. Well that is until

Those are amazing pictures and great narration. Thank you for sharing them with us. I wish there were caves like that around me. I'll probably never get to travel to see those beautiful sites.

It was an opportunity that came up only thanks to the offer of an experienced caver. One of those once in a lifetime chances you have to jump at. It was a bit of a worry, and does have risks.

There was one section where the guide said "Stay quiet, don't touch the ceiling and move through as quickly as you can". Only afterwards was it mentioned that the ceiling was going to come down at any time.

Just to set the record straight about the photos, two of them were taken by me, and the others were taken by Jay_R (hence the reason I am in a lot of them wearing the orange suit) - I'll edit the photo post to clarify.

 

[bill_n_opus]

Re: Got To Try Out My Lights In A Real Cave

I've explored hundreds of mines but this one was always the most special to me. The Hawver cave was a natural limestone cave filled with prehistoric fossils and other wonders. They dynamited the entrance but as a kid I would squeeze through a tiny opening that would send a claustrophobic person into panic mode and explore for hours. Now they are opening the cave back up to the public and are planning tours as early as this Fall. Can't wait to bring my Tn31mb and Fenix Tk-75 with me this time.

http://hawvercave.org/MQM_HC_Tour_Guide.html

Lol, glad to hear that you made it to adulthood ... "explore for hours" ... that's awesome for a kid ... scary for a parent.

 

[ledmitter_nli]

Re: Got To Try Out My Lights In A Real Cave

It looks like the Mines of Moria.

You didn't see a pair of bulbous eyes or hear the pitter patter of wet feet following you's, did you? oo:

"My precious..."

 

[david57strat]

Re: Got To Try Out My Lights In A Real Cave

I realize this thread is a couple of years old; but I know plenty of people who would love to visit the Ape Caves - myself, included . Seems like the perfect place for a flashaholic to make good use of some nice lights.

 

[Phlogiston]

Always good to see these older "special experience" threads, especially as a new member of CPF. Thank you all!

A good friend of mine took me to the Great Orme Bronze Age copper mine in Wales (link) while I was visiting him several years ago, but they have permanent lighting in all areas. I still had my LED Lenser V2 with me, though, just in case! If you're in the area, the mine's well worth a visit, even if you don't get to use your lights

 

[ForrestChump]

Welcome to the Cathedral.

The quantity of material cut and removed by hand is astounding.

:twothumbs

Everything about this post is unbelievably cool. Should have made friends with you @ the CPF meet.

I WANNA GO!

:wave:



EDIT:

Still think we should do a CPF run through the Catacombs, no joke, even if it took a year to plan. That would be AWESOME.

 

[Grijon]

GREAT stuff!!

 

[MidnightDistortions]

I love cave exploring!! I haven't been in one since the late 90's, but they would be a great place to use your lights .

 

[Fireclaw18]

I would use a quality low lumen light to keep the place spooky.

Yeah.

Back in undergrad I once visited a sand cave out in the desert near San Diego California. These were temporary caves created when runoff drilled holes through the dunes and then flowed to the river. The caves were made out of sand and sometimes only a meter high.

White LEDs didn't exist back then. I brought a 4C Underwater Kinetics dive light. It was blindingly bright... far too bright for such an enclosed space.

 

[CelticCross74]

I would have brought MUCH different lights but great writeup and pics!

 

[nbp]

Just bumping these older ones so they show up in the thread list; I assume most people only have it set to show 30 days back.

 

[Tac Gunner]

Great pics subwoofer!

Carter Caves state park here in ky offers flashlight tours but I have yet to make it up there to do them

 

[subwoofer]

Great pics subwoofer!

Carter Caves state park here in ky offers flashlight tours but I have yet to make it up there to do them

Thanks, that was an awesome meet and exploration of a closed mine. The advantage of the caving as opposed to official tours is that you have more opportunities to go where you want, for however long you want, stopping to take photos. 'Officially' that visit was 'trespass' so shh, don't tell anyone it was me.

 

[Tre_Asay]

:twothumbs

Everything about this post is unbelievably cool. Should have made friends with you @ the CPF meet.

I WANNA GO!

:wave:



EDIT:

Still think we should do a CPF run through the Catacombs, no joke, even if it took a year to plan. That would be AWESOME.

It would be fun, I would bring lots of spares though something tells me that light is the last thing a lost group of flashaholics would run out of.

 

[eh4]

Thanks for sharing. That's pretty damn cool!
I have a love/hate relationship with caves, I LOVE to visit known caverns that have some space, but I have to be very careful not to trigger my mild claustrophobia <sigh>.

My experience is that the cure for claustrophobia is to get comfortable, and take a nap. -after a few times of that, a few 20-30 min naps, the fear is never the same, ever again.

 

[eh4]

My worst claustrophobia times have been under cars btw, which are much more likely to crush you to death than any cave is... never trust a hydraulic jack, and don't work under your car on days when they are calling for earthquakes. ;-)

 

[Tachead]

My worst claustrophobia times have been under cars btw, which are much more likely to crush you to death than any cave is... never trust a hydraulic jack, and don't work under your car on days when they are calling for earthquakes. ;-)

And, always use jack stands. The more the better.

 

[jamesJJ]

No caves in my area...definitely something I should add to my bucket list...