Gas Pains

Tom grew up in Milwaukee, bartended in Wauwatosa in the '70s and moved here in 1984.

Commentary, observations and musings about the outdoors, life in general and maybe Tosa politics and personalities will be the order of the day. He savors a lively debate as much as terrific cooking.

Cave Man

Critters, , Just For Fun

Some of my 42 readers will have figured-out by now that in a number of ways my wife and I are of opposite tastes.

For instance - our tastes in wines or beers.  Or our dress.  Movies too.  Sometimes the ballot box.  

My wife likes heights.  She'll march around the steep pitch of a roof in her climbing shoes and never give it a second thought.  She even jumped out of an airplane once to experience the thrill of sky diving. 

As for me - I am a landlubber. I get the creeps cleaning the gutters and could never figure out why anyone would jump out of a perfectly functional airplane.  I just don’t get it.

You name it - we're a study in contrasts.

On one hand I may never be capable of earning a living as a roofer.  On the other hand I like underground stuff.  Especially caves.

If I get near a cave I’m all for checking it out. I happen to like wet, damp, dark and confined underground spaces. Bats too. 

Not my wife though. That kind of experience gives her the heebie jeebies. 

I'm inclined to believe that this is a man-thing.  Which would explain why men locate their workshops and beer fridges in basements.  And as for spending quality time in the basement - Jill doesn't get it.

Such is our life together.

Anyway - last weekend we spent a day together learning about the karst geology of Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula. I also happen to have a special fondness for geological subject matter and if you check-out my other blog you’ll find multiple posts on the subject. 

But back to the topic at hand.

Door County is home to some rather unique geographic features. Including caves.

Like the one above - virtually all of them are located on private property. Nonetheless, if you’re connected to someone with connections there might just be an opportunity to do some caving.

All the better if you go caving and find a cornered wild animal lurking there in the dark.  Shriek! 

This is nothing like a casual stroll through Carlsbad Cavern.  I'm talking about maneuvering through low passages mostly by means of crawling on hands and knees-

Or duck-walking, straddling or slithering on your belly-

Periodically some of the passages would open-up and you could stand and stretch-

With the passage of years any formations worth stealing have been swiped from this cave.  But there were some attractive features remaining.  Like this flowstone-

And there were bats too. Ooooh baby!  Like this little brown bat-

So for all of you climbers and sky divers you really need to check-out the subterranean world.

What is really cool is when you've penetrated deeply into the rock and then turn-off your head lamps.

Just you, the sound of dripping water, and the bats. 

Alone in the dark...

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