casparis073006

casparis073006...Click here for the HOME PAGE.

casparis073006

Casparis cave in PA; is only about a 3-hour drive from Cleveland so that makes it a nice caving day-trip. The Casparis Mine was our first stop. The entrances to the mine had been dynamited mostly closed to try to keep people out, but allow the bats to fly freely in and out. People used to hang out in the mine and start little fires which would heat up the ceiling and cause major collapses. Not very safe.

We had a good time walking through the enormous passages and even had a moment of silence with all of our lights off. But then the bad joke-telling started and it quickly went down hill from there.

Casparis Cave is a couple minutes from the mine; down the bumpy, cinder, muddy road. We had been previously told that the way/road up to the cave is difficult and a 4x4 vehicle is highly suggested. Que, me. My Jeep was able to handle it without having to resort to 4x4. I highly enjoyed it. I'm sure those in the car with me had a good time, too. There weren't too many screams of fear.

Casparis is a 20 minute hike from the car. It was quite hot out so we were anxious to get into the coolness of the cave. We spent a few hours in Casparis, sliding, crawling, water, mud, some formations, crawling, squeezing, tight passages, etc.