Oklahoma caving: some safety tips for people exploring caves
Caves can be fascinating places, but also dangerous. PHOTO BY DUANE DEL VECCHIO
There’s a lot of times on this space where I’ve talked about hiking, climbing, camping and other ways to explore the outdoors. But I’ll have to admit my total ignorance on caving. I’ve explored a cave or two in the past, but nothing like the stuff caving enthusiasts do. Generally speaking, caves are interesting places that draw a lot of attention from curious folks.
But caves are dangerous places. They are dark, rocky, muddy and at times quite wet. People can become easily disoriented once deep inside. Caves are an easy place to get hurt, and no one will know what’s wrong with you if no one knows you’re there.
I’m posting this because we had a caving death reported earlier this week in eastern Oklahoma, near Fort Gibson. The man was solo caving before he met his end.
I’ll probably get into this more later, but I did want to post some caving safety tips I found recently. Read these before you think about crawling around in some new cave you find…
CAVING SAFETY TIPS
Leave no trace.
Never cave alone and always tell somebody where you’re caving and when you’re out.
Never cave after a rain.
Each caver needs three light sources, spare food and water, warm clothes, and good boots, gloves and a helmet.
SOURCE: oklahomacaves.org
Bob Doucette
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