A couple of weeks ago I over heard my nephew, and his cousin talking about what it felt like being lost in a cave for over two hours. He told me that he took his girl friend and another couple into the cave, but they were not very well prepared.
I remember the first time the Pittsburgh Grotto Cave Club took a group of us from the Community College to Bear and Con caves at Hillside. I was able to visit both caves. The trip to Bear cave was short because I took a path across the creek that looped back to another top entrance of the cave, and the main party passed deeper in the cave, and I was not sure which fork they took.
I guess when you are novice everything about caving is a mysterious mystical adventure. It almost seemed like the cave in the Fellowship of the Ring. You can almost imagine the path I took on the right side of the cave entrance that looped back to the top entrance. However, Bear cave is perhaps one of most worn down caves you will ever hear about in your life.
The only way I could think of how that group got lost was if they took the left fork in and tried to take the right fork back. The right fork has about a six foot wall on the left side you have to climb. If you miss it, you will think the room is a dead end, and you will circle back into the cave.
A lot has changed since 1974. Con cave is closed, and there are new rules about visiting Bear cave; but the adventure is still well worth the three mile hike up Hillside, and the over six hundred foot mazed cave exploration.
You will find the latest information at this address:
http://www.karst.org/bear_cave1.htm, and a mystical idea of what a novice might dream about before exploring their first cave. Click on the Fellowship Cave link on the right for all the details.
Posted by philcutrara1
at 6:15 PM EDT
