Clarksville Cave

The entrance

The narrowing cave

A mini subway tunnel

Thankfully we didn't go through that

Some beautiful spots down here

Near the waterfall

Lots of neat rock formations

The exit to part 2

The Thook

A tight squeeze

Tighter still

Mushrooms!

Standing above the exit to The Thook

Probably the muddiest I've been

I met up with the Hudson Valley Hikers to take on the most popular wild cave in the northeast.  This would be my first real caving experience.  My previous experience have been limited to commercial spots like Sam's Point Preserve and Howe Caverns.

It was totally essential that I had somebody who knew this cave.  The leader of this Meetup, Casey, has 20 years of caving behind him and has been to this cave countless times.  He called this an entry level cave.  There would be no exposure or water that could carry you away.  Still, without Casey, if I had gone in myself, I probably would not have found my way out.

This "hike" would be broken up in three stages, each increasing in difficulty.  The first part would be the longest distance-wise, but the easiest since you could walk most of the way (although mostly as a hunchback).  This is probably the best area to take fotos, although I had difficulty the entire time.  The walk would take us into a running stream up above our knees.  Most of the walk would be done hunching over.  There were two choices: (1) The dry route which required crawling and (2) the aforementioned route.  On the way back I would take the route which required crawling.

We then exited so others would be given a chance to decide whether to carry on.  We then re-entered the cave.  This section, though shorter, required more crawling.  It also was incredibly confusing.   If I were down there without someone who knew this, I would still be down there in a panic, trying to find my way out.  This part of the cave had some highlights.  Casey took us to a dead end where there was a crevasse.  Here you could see the end of the roots of many trees.  This was a nice spot to practice scaling the walls.  I took a pass on that.

We then went to a pretty cool area where there was a waterfall.  A very small waterfall, but beautiful nonetheless.  The sound of the trickle bouncing off the walls is what really grabbed you.  We then made it to any area called the sump.  The Sump is a deep pool that you have to negotiated by getting in and ducking your head below the ceiling.  This is one of those spots that could be in a film where the characters are running out of time as the water is rising to the ceiling.   On this day the water would be up to my belly button.  At other times, the water is up to one's neck.  Literally, it's a very cool place.

Next up would be the most challenging section, The Thook.  The shortest section, but by far the most physically exhausting.  Once in The Thook, it would be less a crawl than dragging your body with your arms.  This section provides you with some insight to the real challenges that cavers have.  Although, extremely difficult and at times scary, I was glad to have done this and hope to do so again.  I also found a real appreciation for standing and walking.