Okay. You all remember Fionn's sad day of being turned away at the Oregon Caves National Monument. If you haven't read it, it is the posting previous to this one and is worth a quick read so you understand where we are all coming from.
When you love your kids, you hurt with them and share their joy just as much as they do. I HAD to find Fionn a cave. I HAD TO! I was delighted to find that more caves were along the route and these sounded even BETTER!
A million or so years ago, a volcano erupted and sent off lava shoots through the earth which left huge tunnels in its place. The caves were a result of where LAVA actually flowed through at tremendous SPEED! Okay. So we have a "cool" factor, we have our cave, and we have an all ages welcome sign!
Today was our lucky day. We were all going cave exploring. We pulled up in our happy van and camper, got on our jackets, grabbed our flashlights, I got on my baby Ergo Carrier and we headed towards the ticket counter. A forest ranger saw our national pass and let us through and asked if we wanted to rent a lantern. I smiled and waved my Barbie flashlight at her and said smoothly, "No thank you, we've got it covered."
The day was warm and sunny. The path leading down to the earth was dry and paved. Fionn danced as he held his flashlight in one hand and his dad's hand in the other. He was going to see a cave! The earth started to descend and a very cold mist began to blow into our faces. How exciting! We turned the path's corner and there stood a magnificent cave entrance. Wide for a full view of steps leading downward and people coming in and out, some with small children, some with babies and grandparents.
I shouted up to Fionn, "Are you excited, Fionn?"
His little feet jumped down the stairs happily.
"YES!" he shouted back. His flashlight was turned on and he waved it all around, enjoying the beam of light with the sunlit cave mouth at his back. The path narrowed and metal steps continued on down a path that darkened quickly. No interior lights aided our descent.
"Okay, everyone, turn on your flashlights and watch your step!" I called out.
Within a moment, it was really dark. The path was made up of a real fine black powder. Jagged molten rocks were populated in various ascents and descents of the cave which made the path treacherous at times.
"How much were they charging for those lanterns?" I called to Sean.
"I think $3 dollars," he shouted back.
"How about I go back to the camper and get ours?" I yelled again.
"Sure, but we can see fine without them," he answered, keeping a steady pace into the pitch black cave.
"Well hold on then, I'll go fast! I can't see a thing! I'll be right back!" and off I sped, turning around while trying not to crash into anything.
Within a few minutes I reached the mouth of the cave with Keegan on my back and my trusty Barbie flashlight, which already was loosing its battery life. I waved at the forest ranger and motioned I'd be right back. I ran through the parking lot, found our camper, grabbed two lanterns, locked it back up, ran back through the lot, weaved through the tourists and was happy to feel the cold cave air as I had worked up a sweat trying to get back to my family left in the black cave with no light.
The sun shone on my back as I descended, following the friendly path with tourists hugging each other for family photos. I trotted quickly along the metal grates that provided level walking, up the stairs, down the stairs into the waiting darkness, where I had left my family ten minutes ago. I turned on the lanterns so that my family could see that I was coming for them and then they could rid of their silly flashlights that provided them with but a sliver of light.
It was pitch black now and I called for them. Nothing. I stopped wondering if they had decided to turn back and go out of the cave. It was only 40 degrees. I held my lantern in front of my face and watched my breath evaporate into blackness. Keegan was asleep on my back; we shared warmth between us and so I decided to pursue the path a little further. I feared they had gone further in and were still waiting for me with needed light.
I walked for a long time and listened for voices. I could hear children ahead and the path widened and was easier with now only a black powder. I could see about 5-6 feet around me, which was amazing how the darkness seemed to extinguish the light from these two lanterns. I called for them, "Sean! Riley! Liam!" but there was no answer. The voices grew louder, but sadly I could tell it was not my family.
A dim light grew from deep within the cave. Upon approaching I became relieved to finally see the people.
"Hi!" I said happily, "Have you seen a man with dark hair with a bunch of blond little kids?"
The people glowed in my light, "Yes, we saw them about a mile ago."
"A MILE?" I gasped?
"Yeah, little kids, right? I thought they were crazy, but they were making pretty good time," one of the men said.
"Well I hope it's them because if I walk all this way in this pitch black cave and find out it is not them... I'm going to be pissed!" and I smiled a scared smile and began walking again through the ancient lava-shoot cave.
I checked on Keegan's feet dangling from the carrier. They were cold. I put my palms around them and held the lantern handles in my fingertips and then slid them into my pockets of my jacket. "A mile?" I thought to myself, "Why wouldn't he wait for me?"
I walked for over 15 minutes, going deeper and deeper into the cave. I felt panic growing inside of me. The darkness was so thick, so black, it felt like death. I held the lantern up so see if I could get a look at the ceiling. White streaks along the walls of some kind of sediment covered everything. Drops of water landed here and there into the black powder. I could hear no one. I started to loose my courage. I thought of little Fionn. His first cave and he's over a mile deep into this hellhole with a puny flashlight. I started to doubt that Sean would have brought them into this place and each step I pushed forward I began to feel I was making a mistake.
I then heard voices ahead again. Not a few, but many! I pushed forward as fast as I could, made a bend and there were suddenly lanterns lit with people talking with one another. I approached an older couple in their 60s.
"You've got a real little one with you!" the wife said with surprise.
"Yes, unfortunately, I am looking for the rest of my family. Have you seen a man with black hair with four little blond kids with him?"
"Oh my God, yes! Oh, he's way up ahead! We told him that he was crazy and that he should turn back but he was on the go, that's for sure!" and she shook her head and gave me a smile.
"That's what I get for marrying a mountain man," I explained, "They never stop until they've reached the top. When I catch up to him...I'm going to let him know that I am SOOOO writing about this in my blog!"
The couple laughed hysterically and wished me well.
"By the way," I added, "were any of the kids crying?"
"No, but he was holding one of them. He looked cold."
"Thanks," I said, and I was recharged with a quest to save my children.
Again, I walked briskly, with barely enough light to cast a safe path. I no longer held the lantern upwards to view the cave. It was frightening and rather grotesque. I was angry and that was good. It gave me enough nerve to continue on. All I could think of was my poor young ones and what they must be going through in near complete darkness for almost an hour.
It had been a long time since I had seen anyone or heard anything. I began to fear the unknown again. Just when I would feel panic crawl through me, a faint glow or voice would let me know that there were other insane families with children in this cave, underground, miles deep.
"What in the hell is wrong with these people," I kept asking myself, "It all looks the same! Why keep going?"
I received more confirmations that my family was still ahead of me, without injury, and still traveling further in. Finally, a man informed me that the cave did indeed end and that they would eventually have to turn around the way they got in.
"Thank God!" I thanked him, "Let's hope he doesn't find a shovel and start digging!"
I hated this damn cave and I wanted my kids to know I was calmly coming for them so I sang Minuet in G in soprano. I sang it over and over and over until I finally heard my son, Liam, speaking loudly to his sister. They were on their return.
"Mommy!" Riley shouted, "Hi Mom!"
"Hello, sweethearts!" I hugged them all and handed them a lantern, "How were you able to see where you were going?"
"They held onto my shirt!" Sean beamed while holding Bono in his arms.
Bono was cold and Liam was wearing his dad's jacket. Riley's and Liam's flashlights were dead and they stood happily in the light of the lantern.
"Why didn't you wait for me!" I exclaimed.
"What?! Wait for you?!" Sean laughed, "You thought we would just stand there?"
"How could you see anything? And -- Why would you go so far in! The kids must have been scared!" I snapped.
"They were FIIIINE," he said annoyingly, "Now let's go!"
On the way back the kids told me the scary jokes their dad teased them with while he denied it all and laughed the whole incident off like it a day at the park.
I asked Fionn if he was scared at all.
"A little bit," he answered, "Were you?"
"You bet! But not anymore--now that I found my family!" and with that, I took his little, cold hand in mine and sang children's songs with him the whole way back until the blackness ended and the light was found, and the kids ran happily ahead of us without a worry or a care.
Back at the camper, we put our jackets and flashlights away. Sean, satisfied with meeting the end of the cave shouted, "Now wasn't that FUN!?"
"NOOOOOO!" all the children shouted back.
And that's what I get for marrying a mountain man...as the song goes, "to see what he could see." (With a stupid flashlight and four freezing kids, at the end of a three-mile lava cave.)
