Thanks for the helmets and light. Helped much.
We had a great campout this weekend to Peppersauce Caves north of Tucson. We camped the Friday night on the desert floor under the stars (which were out in numbers) due to the higher abundance of wood (believe it or not). We arrived after dark (since there is nothing close to Phoenix for camping) and promptly found a scorpion (the really small dangerous kind). Later we found another animal that grandma doesn't like and then a swarm of ants. The one got the shovel and the ants were taken care of with lighter fluid and a match. After lights out, a skunk wandered into camp to pay his respects. Then around 1:30AM a pack of at least 3 coyotes decided to wander in a make noise for half an hour (tips for next time: open the meat over the fire pit). One coyote camp back around again at 3:30 and 5:00 just to make sure that no one was sleeping.
The cave was fun. It is publically owned but unmarked and tricky to find (even with a map). The opening is like crawling under a desk. Inside is quite warm and muddy with several passages. There are several lakes down there as well. We had three boys go and one other leader besides me. We had a larger leader (250 lb) for the overnighter, but he opted out of the cave (go figure). Being the tyrant that I am, I had everyone with helmets and three sources of light. It took only a few smacked heads to make everyone glad they had them.
Here are a few shots from the cave. The shot with my other leader was the best of one called "the rabbit hole" to some or "the birth canal" to others (I'm coaxing him through in one of the shots. He wasn't too excited about the trip in general. You have to turn your head sideways and lead with one hand to get through. The other tight one that I'm coming out of is called the "lemon squeeze" (not like Led Zeppelin). That one is literally head-down diving into a hole. The toughest part was scaling a 12-ft wall with nothing but the opposing wall to push against with knees mostly, since there were very few grips.
Good fun. Can't wait to do it again.
P.S. Here are some websites:
http://www.sdmb.org/Trails/Trail-Pepper.html
http://www.sdmb.org/TrailDesc/Peppersauce-Map.jpg
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1245412576050804046wQDatn
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