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Camping in the CAVE - A guide for 2004

Below is a list that Ben and I worked up as an FYI for those that have not camped underground before.

It looks like we will have a full house, so I think we will want to split into two camps - one at Round Room; and the other near UL3. We will be flagging off a clean camp area in which NO dirty or wet cave gear will be allowed. We will eat over tarps to minimize food litter (although maybe we should leave something for our critter friends in the area [grin]). Good sleeping spots are fewer at UL3, so I suggest 8 people at Round Room and 4 near UL3.

With respect to cooking, we want to use the stoves for boiling water ONLY. So, that means eating out of ziploc freezer bags (I recommend double bagging) and/or buying freeze-dried food that you can eat directly out of the container. This greatly increases the overall efficiency of cooking and no one has to clean up pots. Plan on covering your own needs with respect to food.

I'd like to meet at the cave entrance (not the Schoolhouse) at 9:00p Friday. This way, we can split up common equipment in an equitable way. If you cannot make it by 9:00p, please contact me. As always, we need to move through the cave in teams of 3 or more, so not everyone needs to go in together, but It would be best in my mind to meet above ground beforehand.

Common Gear
Survey Equipment
- instruments
- measuring tapes
- flagging
- survey notebooks and paper
- straight edges
- pencils
- Sharpies

Camp stove (2 per camp site)
Fuel and Containers for Stoves
Cooking Pots (2/campsite)
Pot grabber or hot pad (2/campsite)
Water Filter (1/campsite)

Personal Gear
Tarps- 1 communal, 1 changing into and out of cave gear, 1 sleeping (optional),
(Tarps can be as low budget as good heavyweight trash bags) Therma Rest Pillow Sleeping bag Cooking gear - Spoon, and Mug Towel Fleece Pants In-camp shoes/sandals Expedition weight: shirt (2), pants
Mid- or lightweight poly pro – shirts (1 or 2), pants (1 or 2) Socks-neoprene, wool, polypro Cave Footwear Cave suit(s) Waders or Wetsuit (we have some stream passage to map in Upper
Thunder)
Balaclava
Sock cap or balaclava (for in-camp)
Heavy duty trash bags (2-3)
Burrito Bags:
- oven bag or Al foil
- 2-3 paper towels
- 2 Gallon Ziploc Freezer Bags
Toilet Paper
Gatorade bottle for in-camp pee bottle
Helmet/headlamp
Cave Pack
Water Bottles
Batteries
Station lights
Dry bags
Power Bars
Candy
Beef Jerky
Coffee/Tea
Freeze dried dinners (2)
Oatmeal-in Ziplocs (b'fasts)
Candles
Lighter/matches