Once upon a time I was 16 and it was summer. My high school friends set out on an adventure. I went along. We drove in an SUV for an hour to the other side of Utah Lake and around in circles on the cracked dirt and gravel roads until we came to a deep hole in the ground.
The Nutty Putty Cave.
"Come on in! It's totally safe and super cool," they urged.
"Down there? Where it's dark?" I asked, suspicious.
"Yeah, once you shimmy through the 'birth canal' you're home free," they chimed.
"Birth canal?! I'll wait up here in case you need me to go for help," I said.
And so, down they went. I sat on the edge of the hole for an hour, holding the end of the rope they unspooled so they wouldn't get lost inside the Earth's uterus.
When the summer sun got too hot, I leaned into the cool air of the deep hole and listened for sounds of life below. I expected to hear yells echoing off the rock at any moment, telling me to go get help. This was before cell phones. I had no idea which direction to drive to find the road. What help would I be?
"Please, please, oh please, don't let them have any trouble," I prayed, silently as I continued to fantasize about how glad they would be I had chickened out when they needed me to save the day.
After an eternity, I did hear sounds down below. One by one, they crawled out of the hole, grimy from head-to-toe and full of exciting tales. They spent most of the time singing harmonies in the echo chamber they compared to a cave-cathedral. Such adventurous nerds, my friends were.
Until today I've regretted not braving the birth canal.
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13864973?source=rv
The newspaper reports a guy has been stuck upside down in that very same birth canal for the last day. Bet he wishes he'd been a chicken like me.
3 comments:
Absolutely correct!! And, thanks to him getting stuck, the rescue possee will have to dismantle a good portion of the cave to remove him! Board the cave up, and all others unattended by some professionals! Gives me the shutters imagining myself down there!
Shutters mom? Really? Did you know the guy died down there when you posted this Julie? Those caves mark one of the scariest experiences of my life. Yuck!
I didn't know he died. At the time I posted, he was still stuck but alive. So sad. I hear they're going to seal the cave as his final resting place.
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