Working Underground

I’ve started going in caves again recently. When I was a kid my friends and I went caving a lot. There are little caves in and around Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois that are known to the locals. We’d just go in with a few flashlights and maybe drag a case of beer. Every cave back then had a party room for that. But I loved being underground in the cold and the dark and especially the silence. I continued caving off and on when I became somewhat more mature and explored more challenging caves, not the kind you risk getting too wasted in, up around Bloomington and out in Arizona. But at some point I became to old to crawl around for hours on hard rocks.

This summer, however, I’ve begun going to commercial caves. The picture above is from Wyandotte yesterday. A couple weeks back I went to Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, which is the largest known cave system in the world.

At least 90 percent of what I love about caves is lost in the commercial ones. Most have paved paths and lights. A few offer more challenging tours off the paved and lighted paths, but as I mentioned, my days of crawling are over. Wyandotte was nice in that it wasn’t paved and provided a nice workout, but still, it was a long way from the things I love most about caving.

The biggest problem is the guide. They just won’t shut up and the great majority of what they have to say is not the least bit interesting, especially not to me who has heard variations of the same crap many times before and was never interested in it in the first place. Native Americans were there 3000 years ago. Some wealthy person came to own the land in the 18th or 19th century and realized they could make a buck mining saltpeter or something and then opening it up to tourists. Back then the tourists could put their name on the ceiling and walls, build rock pile monuments to themselves, and break off stalactites or whatever they wanted to take. At some point someone died in the cave. And outlaws used it as a hideout. There’s always a ghost story to be told.

I’m okay with the science part of the spiel, but that doesn’t take long and the rest of the trip would be better spent in quiet contemplation of the cave’s incredible natural beauty, and more importantly just the feel of it, which is impossible to describe past the facts that it is cold, dark, and quiet.

I just got some AirPod Pros which are known for their noise cancellation. I’m going to try those next time. And Mammoth Cave has a self-guided tour. Reportedly you can stay there all day once you get in. So I figure I’ll go on a cold, rainy Monday in November in the hopes of getting some genuine cave experience. We’ll see.

I also like exploring abandoned factories and industrial sites, which feels kinda underground. Not like a cave, but what is? There aren’t that many around anymore and the ones that are still standing typically have a lot of security. I came across this one the other day on my way to Wyandotte. It’s in a very social and economically distressed small town along the Ohio River and it was very easy to ride my bike into it and walk around wherever I pleased. I didn’t have the time or inclination to fully explore it, but plan to go back when the light will be better and I have plenty of time to explore.

I haven’t been doing much photography, and no writing whatsoever. I’ve been half-ass working on a project about sprint car racing, but it’s not really going anywhere. Surprisingly, there are quite a few women drivers. The young woman pictured above had just won a big race and is regularly finishing in the top 10 and moving up the standings. It would be an interesting piece of journalism. If anyone out there wants to write it, I’ll photograph it.

But no, nowadays I’m pretty much just working out one way or another. During my year of living painfully my physical fitness really took a hit and I’m just now getting back where I can do something about it. So I hike a lot, go to caves, swim laps and just generally try to keep active. Hopefully some art project will impose itself on me, but for now I’m not all that worried about it. Observing outdoor beauty is an art project in and of itself, just not one that requires any kind of fabrication or documentation to make it real. And anyone can do it, no M.F.A. required.