Start 'em young

[BROUSER]

So I went down to see my grandmother with my kids Sunday, and stopped at the cave on the family property. Had to wade some brush with the kids, and climb a rocky slope, but my daughter really enjoyed herself. She was mad because I didn't bring my flashlight so we could go further back into the cave. The other side of the hill they were climbing in the entrance slopes off pretty steeply down into the main cave, and I would have been hard pressed to get Jack Attack down and back up and still keep an eye on Oggert. I'll take her sometime when it's just the two of us.
A view from the outside

going in

wanting to press onward

creeping up

there's a split at the top of the cave, this is the view from the top of the hill upward. it's very climbable if you want to go out that way, rather than walking out.

this is a little pocket just off the entrance. i think it's manmade, or i have been told that. my great-great grandfather spent a lot of time on this cave. he dug it out more, tried various ways to find more passages. there actually is another entrance that a groundhog might use. he also tried digging down from the top of the hill the cave is in. when you go down into the cave, it pretty much just opens up into a big room. there were formations, but most are gone. at the top of the back of the room is a spring. my g-g-grandpa built a collection box out of concrete under it, ran a pipe from that out of the cave and to a water tank for livestock. his name and several other people are scratched into the concrete. he was a pretty weird guy from all stories i have heard. when his barn filled up with cowshit, rather than shovel it out he burned it down and built a new one.

[slow_walker]

Hey that's really cool that your kids enjoyed it so much. Of course, that fearlessness could fade with age. I know mine sure did. But it's totally cool that they were anxious to go farther.

[BROUSER]

Oggert is far from fearless. She's scared of heights and scared of the dark. So it was a pleasant surprise that she wasn't afraid. She has been in several commercial caves, though, so I guess it didn't occur to her to be afraid. She isn't at all shy around new people. Jack Attack is fearless when it comes to heights and darkness, but he is very, very shy around new people.

[Willard]

Start 'em young! lol not always a good policy to follow depending on what it is you're applying it to

[ropingk]

Great pics it is good to share these times with the little ones they will remember the fun times you had TOGTHER even when they are a lot older and life getts real sucky they will think back and smile

[Mindscape]

Or they'll be all like, "Hey, I know a place where we can hide the bodies..."

[BROUSER]

I hope they are smarter than that. I'll show them a much better place to hide bodies.

[BROUSER]

The plan this weekend is for my brother, my nephew and a friend or two of my nephews to camp in this cave and do some digging to open up the entrance a little more. Might even find some Native American artifacts, I suppose, although I think they were pretty well cleaned out some time ago.