Cave Camping

This weekend our Boy Scouts went camping out in caves near Twin Falls (about a two-hour drive from Boise). The Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster (the two leaders) went, a half-dozen of the boys went, and I also tagged along. These caves were very hard to get to and to navigate in once you got there. The main (paved) road ended, and then there was a two-and-a-half-mile dirt road to the caves. This dirt road was full of ruts and in pretty bad shape. My poor Acura MDX, even with 4WD, didn't make it all the way. We decided to park it en route, and the occupants/stuff in my car got transferred to "The Beast" (the scoutmasters old Chevy Silverado appropriately named), and went the rest of the way that way. Snow fell overnight, and leaving was even more difficult the next morning!

Once there, we entered the caves (through quite a steep, narrow, boulder-strewn passageway), which was actually one really long cave with a couple of offshoots. The entire length of the cave is probably half-a-mile; we set up camp in a fairly wide, tall part of the cave about a quarter-mile in. While getting there, though, in some sections of the cave the roof was no more than 3-4 feet from the floor - it made for quite the hike. Not a good place if you're claustrophobic! In spite of the cold and snow outside the caves, inside it was a nice, cozy 52 degrees (where it stays all year, so we hear). The roof of the cave sweats and is constantly dripping, which made for sleeping in there interesting.

Quite a unique, interesting experience, and it was FUN!!! :-) Pictured here is a shot of most of the group, with Andrew in the middle in gray, in the smaller section of the cave (near the entrance) where we cooked and ate. To see all 19 photos from the campout, please click here.