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Mud, Sweat & Tears |
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Thursday, 15 February 2007 |
 Active Image | Derek DeSha | The Appalachian
Natalia Anzola, a junior English and film major, emerges from a small crevice while exploring Worley’s Cave in Eastern Tennessee.
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Outdoor Programs offers one-of-a-kind experience
by NICK IANNIELLO
News Reporter
It was almost too hard to tell who was who among the 10 Appalachian State University students with mud on their clothes as they emerged from Worley’s Cave Sunday.
One thing was for sure ... they were wearing helmets, headlamps and smiles.
Another thing is for certain: each student had a once in a lifetime experience.
“Caving isn’t just an adventure, it’s a spiritual experience,” Joel
Barricklow, Outdoor Programs trip leader and senior psychology major,
said.
The trip began at 9 a.m., as the participants met Barricklow and his
fellow trip leader Jessica I. Haywood at the Outdoor Programs office in
the Student Recreation Center.
The participants who had never been caving before had no idea what to
expect as the whole group piled into a van wearing clothes that
Barricklow had said would get dirty and “may never be clean again.”
 Active Image | Derek DeSha | The Appalachian
Maggie Yokley, a sophomore ecology and environmental biology major, explores and examines formations in the dark zone of Worley's Cave in eastern Tennessee.
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A few hours later after a picnic lunch, the group stood in the
threshold of Worley’s Cave, located in Eastern Tennessee, listening to
Barricklow and Haywood explain how to use headlamps and navigate a cave
safely.
“Try not to shine your headlamp directly in someone’s eyes,” Haywood said. “It’s called zotting, and it’s not nice.”
Once someone’s eyes have adjusted to the dark it takes time to regain depth perception if they are “zotted.”
Each participant also wore gloves to keep the oils from their skin off the formations of the cave.
Worley’s is a living cave, which means the formations in the cave are
still growing and the oils from human skin can stop this growth.
The trip then proceeded past the threshold of a cave and into complete
darkness where the temperature is 55 degrees Fahrenheit year round.
The next four hours were filled with tight crawls into expansive rooms and eerily beautiful rock formations.
The cave is decorated with formations created by sediment carried in water dripping from the ceiling.
Stalactites, which hang from the ceiling, and stalagmites, which come
up from the floor, are some of the most common formations and can take
from 10 to 100 years to grow one cubic inch.
Animals in the cave are unlike those anywhere else.
Hibernating bats hang from the ceiling waiting for spring, and there are a few mice that wander into the cave.
Maggie R. Yokley, a trip apprentice training to lead caving trips and
junior biology/ecology and environmental biology major, showed
participants an albino crawfish.
Since the crawfish was never exposed to light, it had no skin pigmentation and was essentially blind.
“It’s such a different environment from anything we experience,” Yokley said.
At one point in the trip, the entire group turned off their headlamps and experienced total darkness.
“A cave is one of two places you can find complete darkness,” Barricklow said. “The other one being the bottom of the ocean.”
Caves can be formed three ways: mechanically, chemically and volcanically.
Worley’s Cave was formed chemically and mechanically.
Rainwater combines with soil in the hummus layer to make carbonic acid,
which hollowed out a good deal of the cave. There is also a river that
runs through Worley’s Cave that helped cut out its underground passages.
Worley’s was first found by American Indians who walled it up for
spiritual reasons. During the Civil War, the cave was opened and used
as a saltpeter mine. Saltpeter was used in gunpowder and also as a
dietary supplement that decreased sex drive.
Barricklow said it was used in soldiers’ food as well as meals in boys’ schools to help keep them under control.
During prohibition, the cave was used by its owner, Worley, to throw parties with illegal moonshine.
One large room, called the ballroom, was the site of most of these parties.
Outdoor Programs leads caving trips each semester to Worley’s Cave and Robert’s and Speedwell caves in Virginia.
Barricklow said having a trained caver with you makes caving a better experience.
“There is a level of danger associated with caving that a lot of people
don’t realize,” he said. “A cave is one of the most difficult places to
rescue someone from.”
Each trip leader is certified as a wilderness first responder, and Outdoor Programs is very proud of its safety record.
“The vast majority of outdoor adventure is safe as long as it is done
properly,” Brent Cochran, Outdoor Programs coordinator, said.
The participants of last Sunday’s trip all had good things to say about their caving experience.
“It was a really super experience,” Shannan N. Ference, a junior
political science major who found out about the trip through an
announcement on AppalNET, said. “I’m really glad I did it.”
For more information on Outdoor Programs trips, visit its Web site at www.op.appstate.edu or call its office at 828-262-4077.
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