A guided caving trip goes underground Saturday afternoon
Two and a half hours inside a gated cave at fifty-five degrees, which on a ninety-four-degree Saturday is either the best idea on this list or the worst. Ijams Park is unusually blunt about what it involves.
- When
- Sat Sep 19 · 2–4:30 PM
- Where
- Meet at 3526 Island Home Ave
- Cost
- $65 · registration required, no walk-ins
- Temperature
- About 55 degrees underground, year round
- The entrance
- A gated opening roughly 3 ft by 2 ft
- Expect
- Muddy slopes, knee- to thigh-deep water, tight crawls
- Wear
- Clothes and shoes you are willing to ruin
Ijams Park takes small groups into a gated cave on Saturday afternoon, two till four thirty, sixty-five dollars a head. The park's own description is refreshingly free of salesmanship: it calls the trip physically and mentally demanding, and then it lists why.
What they tell you before you sign up
Participants should expect slippery muddy hills, water between knee and thigh deep, and stretches that require crawling and pulling yourself along with your hands and arms. The gated entrance measures about three feet by two. The cave holds around fifty-five degrees all year, which is a forty-degree swing from Saturday's forecast and the single best argument for going.
Registration is required and there are no walk-ins — every participant needs a ticket. There is also a liability waiver, good for the calendar year, so if you have done another Ijams Park program this year you are already covered. Read that list against what your knees are currently willing to do.
