Down the Ladder - Into the Darkness

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.

~Joseph Campbell

Looking up from the floor of the cave.

 It was an unusual invitation to an unusual place. The Friesenhahn Cave,* known for some time has been protected by difficult access on private land. It is second only to the La Brea Tar Pits as a source for Pleistocene fossils (most reside at the Texas Memorial Museum at the University of Texas). Our first attempt at exploration had been halted by rain. It's not safe to climb down a slippery ladder. And, I suspect too much rain would make crawling around underground unsafe as well.

The pre-entry briefing.

I fretted the 30 foot ladder. I have always hated heights. My siblings climbed atop things while I watched. There was only one tall tree I climbed in my childhood  - and only because it was a safe climb with lots of hand/foot holds.**

So, I invited my sister and brother to the adventure (surely their presence would encourage/challenge me to accomplish the climb). After receiving instructions and watching a couple of folks start down (you don't see them finish as they disappear after about 4 feet) I crawled in the top of the shaft, swung myself over to the ladder, gripped the rungs, and slowly made my way down into the cave.

My brother climbs down the ladder.

You feel the change in temperature almost immediately as you watch the Daddy longlegs do their "spider boogie" on the wall mere inches from your face.***  

Take another step.  You hear voices from below getting louder.  

Take another step. The ladder moves just a little mid-way.  

Take another step. No one rushes you.  

Take another step. The wall falls away and you are in the cave.   

Take another step. And suddenly you are on the last rung and down.

It took some time for everyone (13 from the Master Naturalists and Dr. Larry Meissner) to enter. Then we heard of the earlier exploration and digs. We saw a few cave features you might expect (a couple of LARGE stalagmites.  We observed a couple of salamanders - but we tried not to disturb the wildlife.

Dr. Meissner shared the history of the cave.

A rapt audience.

HY taking photos

Explaining the grid for digging through old materials.

A salamander - Plethodon glutinosus - Northern Slimy Salamander

There were fossils visible in the walls. There are discoveries waiting to be made around the edges of the cave and below our feet. But those would have to wait for another day and someone with a plan.

A portion of mammoth tusk

One at a time the adventurers climbed back out of the cave. Then we were treated to examples of fossils that had been found on digs over the years. 

Dr. Meissner explained about mammoth teeth

Looking at fossils

The tip of the tooth of a scimitar-toothed cat - Homotherium serum

All too soon it was time to thank Dr. Meissner, turn in our hard hats, pack up the fossils, shake hands with our fellow explorers, and head home.

Would I go back? Absolutely.

A pearl milkweed grew at the edge of the cave area.

"How quiet it is," Danny said, digging in his knapsack for the canteen full of water he had brought. "You don’t realize how scary it is, having a whole mountain on top of you, until you’re in the dark as I was in that tunnel, or when you begin hearing the silence."
 

"I didn’t know you could hear silence," said Irene.
 

"Then just listen."

~Jay Williams, Danny Dunn and the Fossil Cave

Waiting calmly for my sister to arrive before the adventure. I probably did not need that coffee.

NOTES:

*https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rqf01
https://www.concordia.edu/academics/school-of-natural-and-applied-sciences/friesenhahn-cave/
http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/npl/outreach/glen-evans-the-compleat-naturalist/paleontology/friesenhahn-cave/

** [This is a personal and unnecessary footnote, but it is my blog.] I barely made it through motherhood - raising three devil-dare children (they got it from their father), watching as they not only climbed trees, but designed/used a zip-line, swung from playground equipment and, later, jumped out of airplanes. One kid climbed 30+ feet up the Afgan pine - "Mom, you can see Scott & White from here!" he said as the tippy-top of the tree swayed under the weight of the 10-year old. [But that's another story.]

On vacations they would climb mountains and would walk out on bridges and balconies as I took photos and prayed. They looked over the railing at the Capitol while I exercised the "mother's death grip" on the waist of their pants. Only years later did I learn they climbed from second story windows onto the rotten front porch roof and "walked around."

Yup. Somehow we all survived it.

***They are arachnids, but NOT spiders. Still, they were close and their movement was just a little distracting. Maybe I should have closed my eyes.. http://mentalfloss.com/article/59455/15-fascinating-facts-about-daddy-longlegs