What to Wear When Caving

First let's start with what caving means. A lot of people ask me the difference between caving and spelunking, so let me clear this up! The definition of Spelunking is the hobby or practice of exploring caves and while that does sound like the definition of caving it's not fully the same. I identify as a Caver because it's more than a hobby or practice for me, and many cavers like me, it means so much more to me since it's a part of my family outings, vacations, and friendships. I am an experienced caver and us cavers have a joke going around that is "Cavers save Spelunkers!" Second, let's get to what we have to know about the cave to figure out what to wear. I wouldn't wear the same thing caving in New York than I would in Tennessee. Caves stay the same temperature all year round and that temperature depends on where in the world the cave is! The average cave temperature in Minnesota can range from 37 to 57 degrees, in Tennessee it's a cool 56 degrees all year long, and in New York it could be 32 degrees or below. My most common outfit choice while caving is wearing wool socks, leggings (nice thick ones), a flannel with a t-shirt underneath, gloves, my cave suit, which is water resistant, and a helmet with a headlamp on it. If the cave is colder, or a wet cave, I will wear a wetsuit under my cave suit. If the cave is warmer, like in Tennessee, I will just wear thicker water resistant cargo pants and a T shirt. I always like to be as safe as possible and sometimes caving has a lot of crawling and climbing, so I always wear good knee pads and sometimes elbow pads. Finding good pads isn't always easy since regular ones are too tight, and ones made just for cavers are expensive. My mom and brother are smart and have the knee pads sewn into their cave suit, but sewing cave suits requires very thick needles and some sewing skills. I wore the struggle suit a lot and went through a lot of duck tape to be comfortable, but as I am growing older and growing up, I needed to make sure I wore better cave gear. Starting from the bottom is fun and full of cool bruises from my experience, and struggling with borrowed gear at first helped me to enjoy what I have now. Now boots all depend on your comfort and what you prefer. I have hiking boots that have more traction and are better to wear for dry caves and climbing, but I also have a pair of Welly's that are great for wet caves and keep my feet dry and my cave suit tucked in nicely. Finding what gear you need is trial and error and honestly takes time and figuring out what works best for you, that includes your rappel gear. Adjusting your gear is a necessity especially when rope and bungees go bad over time and lots of use. What you wear doesn't matter as much as what you pack in your cave pack. You could be caving in a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers since every cave is different, but having things like water, an extra light source and batteries, snacks, and extra gloves are necessities. I like to pack extra things like socks and gloves in case they get wet because I get cold very easily and if anything would happen, keeping my hands and feet dry is key to staying warm. Other people have their own ideas of what they need in a cave, like my leader that took us to Mexico always carries around a poop kit in his cave pack because sometimes nature calls while we are underground and its not good to go to the bathroom in caves since it messes with the cave life and bacteria. You always want to prepare for anything to happen since caves are dangerous places and you never know what could happen. Most cave leaders know the cave and its history, so if it's still an active cave they wouldn't take you through it, or would let you know what not to touch. There are spots in caves where the owners want to preserve formations or keep people away from dangerous spots like sketchy edges or drops. There was a cave that my brother and I were helping map and the entrance was an old mine shaft and it wasn't fully settled, so we had to crouch and make sure we didn't touch the ceiling or layers of rock could fall. It wasn't difficult or something that could kill us, but it would injure us and possibly ruin the entrance to a beautiful cave. Every cave is different in many ways and being as prepared and safe as possible is the most important thing, but also to have fun! Prepare for the worst and expect the best!

I am a Princess!

Bean and I Walking through Aquismon

 My favorite part of Mexico, and traveling to other countries in general, is how different the animals live! Walking around the streets of every town, village, and even on the highways are dogs, cats, chickens, and others everywhere!! In certain places, like Mexico, a lot of animals get neglected or don't have much to eat around, so being able to see how scrawny and boney they are wasn't rare on my trip to San Luis Potosi. Nevertheless, I saw a lot more shops this year selling big bags of dog and cat food, and the dogs walking around town weren't as skinny as the dogs I saw in 2019, which made me happy! I am an animal lover, so my family made sure to tell me not to pets every dog I see, knowing full well I am going to try! I have always had a love for animals and if giving them pets and dog food is all I can do for them, then I will pet and feed every dog with whatever food I have to give, including delicious beef jerky and beef sticks! The dogs and cats that are free range are the sweetest animals and want to be pet and loved more than wanting to eat. There was one specific dog that will hold my heart after this trip to Mexico. His name, well what we called him, was Bean! He would always hang around the town all day living his life, then when we came around he would follow us around town, and eventually got comfortable enough to walk us home! Bean would follow us while we were shopping and sit out front of the store waiting ever so patiently. Everyday, when we would first see him, he would get so happy and wiggle his broken tail and jump around! So his name got a little longer and became our Mexican Jumping Bean! He was adorable and happy and just wanted to be pet and loved. One of my fellow cavers who was on the trip with me, eventually became a good friend and the first night Bean followed us home and sat outside all night, him and I decided to sit out there with him while he ate his pile of dog food. Bean didn't want to eat, and was disinterested in the food altogether. What Bean really wanted was to be pet and not alone, so Andy and I sat on the ground outside for about an hour just talking as Bean went back and forth between us. We waited until Bean ate all his food and was settled with all the pets he could get. After that night, the whole group had many conversations about bringing Bean over the border! He became protective of me and when other dogs would come to say hi to me in town, they would have a standoff and yell at each other, in dog language of course, but Bean always skurried behind us if we got too far away inevitably winning the ruff argument. That crazy pup would wait outside our front door all night, until the morning and when we would pack into our cars to go do our activity of the day, Bean would sometimes follow our cars into the town! Seeing him made my trip so much better, and I wished every day that he could come home with us, but walking back to the hotel one night I saw him go back to, what I think is his home, and there were kids there, so I would never want to take away the happiness Bean brought me from someone who owned and loved him more than I do. He wasn't mine to take, but I was happy to have enjoyed the time I did with the Pup. There were so many other dogs I pet and fed and many cats that in fact yelled at me to pet them, so I just had to! I love helping others and animals in any way I can. Learning about others and how they think is very interesting to me, and meeting pets who live differently to learn how they act is an experience in itself. I am lucky enough that lots of animals trust me enough to come near me and let me pet or feed them, but not all animals trust humans enough to do that. Even when I traveled through Thailand for a month the monkeys were curious enough to let me be very close to them and I ended up surrounded by young monkeys grabbing my hands and phone. They all wanted my attention, and my rings, so the more comfortable they got the more daring they got, so I had to take a step back so they wouldn't get aggressive. I had the monkeys following me, hanging on my arms, hugging my legs, and taking selfies with my phone! That was also a life changing experience I was lucky enough to be a part of. So many reasons why I love animals, and so many chances to see them in their own cultures. 

These are the monkeys I met in Phangna, Thailand! I have so many pictures I could post of me and animals, not even counting the ones of my own pets! My love for animals is deep rooted within me and the animals know they are safe and loved when I'm around!