Monday, October 27, 2014

Ice cave I used to visit 30 years ago

This ice Cave Lava tube is not too far from where I built my house on 2 1/2 acres of land very remote and home schooled my older three children (two step kids and my son from my first marriage) then in 1980 to 1985 when the oldest was 12 years old. The oldest now is 43 and is now a Fire Captain here in California. So, they are 43, 42, a lawyer, and 40 a teacher. All are married and my biological son just made me a grandfather for the first time.

So, this one we took our kids to when they were under 12 years old and they loved it. However, about a month ago we couldn't find it because the dirt roads were sort of overgrown because they are all dirt roads and people don't go there much. My old neighbor who still lives out there found it again and marked it and took us there this time so we found it again. However, someone removed his markers (likely the forest service) because maybe they think this cave is just too dangerous or something since I'm not sure there is cell service from here. (However, I got a call from my friend out there while I was in the cave so there is some cell service.

Here are some picture we took down inside this cave
two of my friends climbing up the other side. The forest service left this aluminum ladder because the old wooden one someone built was rotting. This is a much safer way to get out than before. You just grab a branch on a manzinita bush as you climb out so you don't fall back inside the cave.

we went in one entrance and had to crawl through a small space to get to the top photo. Because I'm 6 foot 5 it was pretty uncomfortable for me to crawl through this small space. You can see my friends shoes in the center of the photo climbing through a very cramped space to the other side of the cave. I bought a Black Diamond head lamp today for about $40 from a Sports store here in Mt. Shasta called "The Fifth Season". I also got a good pair of hiking boots made in Germany called Lowa that are all leather and are very comfortable. I was surprised they had size 15 boots for me.


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