ペッパーソースというこの洞窟は、実はかなり知られている割には、町や州のオフィシャルガイドには載っていない洞窟で、公道から見えるところには標識すらありません。
実は先月一度行ってみたものの洞窟自体を見つけるのに時間がかかりすぎて、洞窟が見つかったころにはタイムアップで矯正終了という結果に終わった洞窟だったのです。
洞窟はうちから1時間半ぐらいの山にあり、今回は行ったらもう車が10台ぐらいとまってた。どうもボーイスカウトか何かのグループだったよう。駐車場とかもちろん無いので、未舗装のくねくね道路の路肩に駐車。
幸い私たちが洞窟に入ったころには団体グループは洞窟を出るころで、ちょうど良かったです。
さて、洞窟探検だけど、いや、自分の限界を見ました。肉体のではなく、精神的に。
自分でもびっくりしたね。閉所恐怖症な症状が出るとは思ってもいませんでした。
観光向けに歩きやすくなってる洞窟とは大違いで、完全に自然なままで、ものすごいタイトスペースな割れ目をカニ歩きで進んだり、それこそ手にひざで這い蹲って進んだりしなくちゃならないわけよ。
それはいいの、それは。泥まみれなのもいいの。
問題は、1時間半ほど進んだ、洞窟の一番奥（多分）のほうで、岩の間の、高さ40センチぐらいの間を3メートルぐらい進まなくてはならなかったところ（下記写真参照。ちなみに写真は一緒に行ったお友達）。
自分の体全部がこの狭い岩の間に入ったところで、ビミョーにパニック症状発生。
膝をつくどころか、ひじをつくこともできない。体勢を変えることも出来ない。
頭を上げて先を見るのが精一杯。
完全に腹ばいで岩の上を滑って進むような状態でやっと中間点。
完全に体全部が巨大な岩と岩の間。
急に心臓バクバクしだした。
最悪なのが、私が一番体が小さいから、自ら進んで1番手で様子見てくると入ったので、後1.5メートルほど進んでも広い場所に出れるかすらわからず、なんだかとっても不安になったのでした。
唯一ある地図はほぼ役立たずで自分たちが洞窟のどこにいるのかもわからず、岩肌にスプレーで矢印が書いてあったりするけどどれを信じていいのかもわからず、大体「初心者用」とか「上級者用」とかのコースがあるわけでもなく、全くの未知の世界をそれこそ手探りで進んでいる状態で、ヘッドライト消したら自分の手がどこにあるかも見えない漆黒の闇で、今ここで過呼吸になったら最悪だな、と思ったら余計に不安になって、もし具合悪くなっても自力で洞窟から出るのにあと1時間はかかるのか、とか思ったらまた余計不安になって、とにかく岩と岩、40センチの間でびっくりするほどパニクりました。
リュックしょっては通れないような狭い穴とかを通り抜けたりするので、もし本当に洞窟内で怪我とかしたら、レスキュー隊、大変だろうな、と思いました。
実際、泥と湿度でどこも非常に滑りやすく、ちょっと間違ってあたったら頭蓋骨割れるな、って思うようなとがった岩ばかり。
へき地なので、洞窟から出ても、救急車では最寄の病院まで遠すぎるからヘリコプター出動になるようなところです。
ちなみにヘリコプターで救出されると、ヘリコプター代だけで軽く100万円ぐらいかかります。
そんなことも考えて余計不安の悪スパイラルなのでした。
そのあと先もしばらくかなり狭いところが続いて、心臓のバクバクも止まらず、あたし、もうだめかも、と思ったけど、おやつ休憩とって糖分とったらたらなんとか持ち直せました。（腹減ってただけか？）
2時間強ぐらいで洞窟から出てきたころには気分上場で、また来てもいいかな、とか思ったり。
のどもとすぎれば、ってやつだな。
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| This is the correct orientation of the photo, by the way. |
First of all, "spelunking" is my most favorite English word so I like using it. I just like the sound of the word. Sounds very cheerful and fun for some reason. Interesting combination of the sound.
Anyway, the Peppersauce Cave. I had never heard of it until a friend mentioned it a couple of months ago, but the Peppersauce Cave is I guess pretty well known around here. It's all natural cave and many people visit there. But is is never mentioned in any of the state's or town's official visitor guide. There is not even a sign visible from the road. I guess no governmental entity wants to maintain this cave because it is probably just too cost prohibitive to make it a tourist friendly place. Just too much liability, I guess.
The cave is off of a winding dirt road. There is no actual parking spot, but there is a good place to park a few cars without blocking the traffic.
We actually tried to find the cave last month. The thing is, when we Googled it, the map was pointing at a totally different place. So we were looking for the cave for a couple of hours in the entirely wrong place. By the time we actually found the cave, it was just too late to go in.
The cave is at the 2nd bridge after Peppersauce Campground if you are coming from Oracle.
Park your car after the left curve, walk back to the bridge, go down into the wash from the right side of the bridge.
The main entrance to the cave is to your right, up on the hill surface, just past the cave sign.
Few things I leaned:
-The cave is very humid. While it's not hot, it is not cool either so definitely a short sleeve T shirt weather in there.
-You will need a good pair of hiking shoes. The ground is packed clay dirt over a rock so very slippery and muddy at many places.
-Wear long pants. Some places, I had to climb up some slippery slope on hands and knees. While the shoes lost traction, the jeans helped.
-Wear gloves. This is not hiking. I had to grab rocks and cling onto dirt surfaces a lot and gloves really helped and kept my hands clean, which was nice when I wanted to take cell phone pictures or get a snack/water out of my backpack.
-Wear a hat. A baseball cap will do. So many low ceiling tight spots with jagged rock.
-Bring a protein bar in addition to water/sports drink. It took about a good 2 hours to come out of the cave, and you will need some good dense snack to take a break at one point in the cave.
-Good LED headlight is a must. Multiple sources of light is nice so I recommend going with a group. I went in a group of 3, each with a headlight, and that helped illuminate the cave well. In addition to my head light, I also had one small hand-held flash light (the kind that you can get it for free at Harbor Freight) with a strap. The strap was very helpful while using ladders (there are a couple places that you have to climb up/down the ladders) or when I had to grab rocks. The size of the flash light (approx. 3.5") and its cheapness were also nice so I don't have to worry about banging it around. (I know many of the maglights don't even come with a place to hook a strap, which I don't understand. Hand-held flashlight without a strap is useless in any occasion.)
-Bring a change of clothes, and make sure to bring a change of shoes. Also don't forget a garbage bag to put the dirty shoes/clothes in. Not only will you be more comfortable in clean clothes on your way home, your car (and the owner of your vehicle if different from you) will also appreciate it.
-If you have any inclination of claustrophobia, this cave may not be a good idea. (Well, any cave for that matter but...) Because not only are you going through some tight sports, like you have to craw or you have to take your back pack off, but also you may be 1 hour into the cave, and it will take another hour to get out. (And if you do need medical attention for any sickness or injury, you will more likely to require an air evac because the area is too rural for a ground transport, which will cost you easily $10k.)
I never thought I was claustrophobic. But I had some serious panicked moments while I was on my belly, between the ground and a huge rock, less than 1.5 foot high, where I couldn't stand on my knees or pull myself up on my elbow, barely enough height to lift my head up, totally flat on the ground for about 10 feet.
At half way through the 10 foot crawl, I realized that my entire body was totally under this very low ceiling, horizontal fissure. My heart started beating really, really fast. It must be what some people feel when they are in an MRI machine. But it's worse because no one will pull you out in a second in the cave, and it still takes another hour to get out of the cave.
It's funny how different it feels to be in the 1.5 feet fissure when you are flat belly down when compared to walking through a vertical fissure of 1.5 feet wide.
So, that was my spelunking experience. We all enjoyed the experience and I'm sure the guys want to come back and explore more of the numerous off shoots ways through the cave.
Today, I am just suffering from all the muscle pain.
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