Your greatest adventure?

**caddmannq** · May 21st, 2002, 02:19 PM

What was the most adventurous thing you've ever done?
Skindiving? Skydiving? Boar hunting? What?

Well for me it was speelunking....

I college I used to hang out with some ROTC guys, and we'd often go camping, rock climbing, and such. One day we decided to go exploring in a well-known, but uncontrolled cave up in the canyon. Uncontrolled, meaning, there's no gate, no fence, nobody on duty ever: a completely "wild" and unpatrolled environment.

We took some snacks, flashlights, extra batteries, bulbs, and rope, and five of us started into the cave. After some time climbing through narrow crevices and over dry, ancient rockfalls, we intersected the tiny stream that issued from a crack below the mouth of the cave, where it dived into that deep crack. We followed this up-stream, often crawling on our bellies through water and along narrow, sandy shores with only a couple feet of headroom. It was claustrophobic in the extreme. Millions of tons of rock stood between us and the sky. Though we didn't expect it, we knew that if the creek "surged" for some reason, we might all drown before we could get out.

Eventually, the cave opened out into a series of small dome-shaped rooms, filled with pools of water, which we could wade through. Finally we came to a small room about 15 feet across and reaching only eight feet above the water. We swam above the water to a sandy beach on one side, but could not easily touch the bottom. It was apparently the end of the line. We were about a mile into the cave, and who knows how far under the granite mountain above us.

One guy had a water-proof flashlight (I did not) and he decided to dive below the surface to see what was down there. He came back up, and said that the water entered through a 3 foot opening on the opposite side, and that he was going to swim through it. He took one end of the rope and started down. After 15 seconds his light disappeared. After 30 seconds the rope went limp. After a minute we started to wonder. After two minutes we started to worry, and at three minutes we started to panic, fearing that he'd been trapped without air.

After the longest five minutes of my entire life, he reappeared. He'd swum into another "dome" room, and crawled into yet another. He'd dropped the rope when it had become snagged under water. He offered the water-proof flashlight to anybody else who wanted to try it.

We all declined.

**caddmannq** · May 21st, 2002, 07:15 PM

^BuMp^

Whoa! Nobody???
Don't you guys ever do anything except sit behind the PC?

**OuTpaTienT** · May 21st, 2002, 07:35 PM

This one time, I went swimming right after I ate a huge meal...I didn't wait an hour or nothing. That was scary.

**vass0922** · May 21st, 2002, 07:48 PM

You mean.. we're supposed to .. leave it?
I can't leave it... it might get lonely

Gone bungee jumping once down in Pigeon Forge TN

Me, my cousin, and my best friend were all set to go, all 3 of us were going to do it. We were bound and determined!!
So we walk up there, and we see on the rules there is a weight limit.. DOH my friend couldn't go as he is a bit overweight. SO me and my cousin go up.. I sign the letter stating if I die I won't sue them too much, they give me the harness and I start strapping up (VERY uncomfortable!!!). So my cousin goes up while I'm harnessing up and he goes to sign up.. they ask him his age.. think he was 15 at the time.. NOPE DENIED!!
he couldn't go with his parents permission

I was only like 17 at the time (I think.. lol) so I couldn't vouch for him... SO I was ALL alone!! lol
Walked allll the way upstairs with this horribly uncomfortable harness riding up into places it shouldn't be.. So I get up there and I'm looking out over the edge, and they give you a what looks like a "plank" (like walkin' the plank). This girl is out there getting ready.. the guy says on 3 GO!
So he says... 1...2...3 GO! She goes... SCREAMING all the way down LOL and she went feet first

So the guy says head first or feet first. Well duh, gotta go HEAD FIRST!! LOL
So he gets me all hooked up, there's a big pillow type thing wrapped around the rope so you have something tohang onto.. he gives that to me and tells me how to hold on to it. No problem I can do THIS!!
Walk out there, look down (of course!) ugh.. thats a LONG ways down!! ... I'm looking out I get my legs and arms wrapped around the pillow...
I get all READY! and I RAN!! LOL
I walked right down them stairs and said NO WAY!!
Ok ok Just kidding

So I'm out there on the plank, I can see my cousin and friend watching out on the building nearby.. get wrapped around the pillow.. and the guy says on 3 GO!
So adrenaline pumping, heart racing etc... 1...2...3... GO!
So of course.. down I went LOL
(there's the airbag down below

)
Didn't utter a word all the way down lol
Just held on!
I remember ALL the way down I was just WAITING to hit the bottom of the rope LOL
Well after it was all said and done, I walked away... I dont' think my heart finally slowed down for an hour or more after that lol

yeah yeah big deal I know, I'm not a real exciting person

lol
No sky diving for me

**vass0922** · May 21st, 2002, 07:48 PM

...and this one time at band camp...

**Knothead** · May 21st, 2002, 08:22 PM

A coupla' years ago, I went out with some friends aboard a single-masted 50' racing sloop. We took off from Naples, CA (near Long Beach) about 8 of us, plus the "Captain"...a notorious drunk, as I was to learn...but then, THIS crowd wasn't so far behind him...anyway, nice afternoon, we stowed everything, got familiar with this gorgeous ship, etc., and around 5 pm, we set sail...or rather, started putting to Catalina on the wimpy little back-up Diesel motor.

Well, the booze was flowing freely, and next thing I knew, we had SERIOUS desertion (that is to say, it was midnight, and everybody was passed out belowdecks.) The only two people still on their feet was me and my friend John, and by this time we were drinking Bloody Scotches. It's like a Bloody Mary, except without the tomato juice, or celery, or tabasco, or ice. You just drink it right out of the bottle.

I had been piloting by the compass, keeping it at ___degrees...I was definitely sailing on faith, as who knew by this time whether that drunken idiot "captain" even knew WHAT course to take...we coulda been on our way to China, and it felt like it, too!

So John had the idea of radioing to shore, and checking our course, and shore told us we were on course, but could not tie up in Avalon bay. We were given a heading for when we saw the lights, for Descanso Bay.

Now this was a moonless night, so we could see nothing. To further complicate matters, we were both drunk as lords, and the only reason I was piloting the ship was because John could no longer see the little numbers on the compass.

Well, I was having a HUGE amount of fun with my "Popeye the Sailor Man" routine, and John would have thought it funny too, I'm sure, except his attention was directed at not falling overboard. I'm spinning the wheel, steering a drunkard's course into the bay...it was great!

Finally, at around 2am, we decided that we should stop and drop anchor, lest we run aground, so that's what we did, which was miraculous in that it was pitch black, plus we were giggling so hard, I was sure ONE of us would end up in the drink! But tie up we did, and went below and finished passing out.

Next morning, the crew was a wreck, my g/f was trying to get aspirin down all and sundry, and John and I got the shock of our lives. Somehow, we had steered right through a harbor chock-full of ships, and never touched a single one!! We had tied up in such a way (fore and aft) that we had jammed that 50' ship right between a huge yacht and a Schooner, just like you park a car at the store, also having managed to avoid a half-dozen other ships that were moored behind us. Somebody upstairs definitely had His hand on my shoulder....

P.S., I don't drink anymore.

**Knothead** · May 21st, 2002, 08:32 PM

I'd tell you the skydiving story, except it isn't nearly as funny...

**caddmannq** · May 21st, 2002, 08:48 PM

NOW we're gettin' some where!

Come on you mouse-potatoes, 'fess up!

**Sweet** · May 21st, 2002, 09:01 PM

Just 2 weeks ago I had the opportunity to walk over a catwalk, that looked like it wouldn't hold a cat. It was above a shark tank. It only lasted a few minutes but it was a thrill.....

**Graham** · May 21st, 2002, 09:12 PM

speelunking

Thats a new one on me, I think we call it potholing, a bit more descriptive.

I dont do dangeous stuff, intentionally !!!

G

**cadetstimp** · May 21st, 2002, 10:38 PM

Many moons ago, I discovered I had about 20+ cousins in New Orleans (Grandma's sister had a big clan over there). I visited them in August (Bleh!) when I was 19. One of them had a house in Mississippi with a lake and ski boat out back. Turns out the "lake" was created by the dredging that occured to build up the nearby railroad above sea level. I could see thin walls of dirt just poking above the surface of the water. It was obvious that they must have seperated different trenches being worked on by different trucks.

On our way to Pensacola (land of the white "squeaky" beach sand), we stopped and spent a day waterskiing in Mississippi. I was used to the choppy blue wakes of Mission Bay and Oceanside Harbor in San Diego, so I took a look at the glassy smooth surface of the "swamp" and thought ...cool, piece of cake.
Then I got my instructions......"If ya'll fall and then see a pair of pine cones floating towards ya, try not to splash around until we get back to pick ya'll up". Pine cones? I asked him what does he mean by pine cones? He then proceeded to start describing to me how alligator eyes on the water looks like a pair of pine cones floating towards you. Yikes!

I figured he was joking around so I go ahead, hop in and get ready. (BTW jumping into a swamp in August feels no different than the outside air. Kinda feels weird floating when it feels just like the outside air) Once I'm up I start feeling this ... whack! whack! whack! against my legs. I realized it wasn't very easy dodging the reeds that I didn't notice spotted all over the water. ...and what's that... didn't see the dirt poking out of the water?....thud! splash! Once I regained my bearings (pun intended!

) I remembered what cuz said as I heard the boat turning in the background......

look for the pine cones!

... look for the pine cones!

I got back into the boat and decided to "rest". Meanwhile, it was my brothers' turn... "Can you hold my glasses for me?".."Sure!", I said. "Hit it!" ...brrrrrr - Whack! Whack! Whack!

Luckily... nothing serious happened, but I didn't opt to go again for awhile. After I finished another run later on, we did spot 2 gators under some trees near the shore! Didn't go again after that!

**cadetstimp** · May 21st, 2002, 10:43 PM

other dangerous encounters would be...

Climbing down a steep rock face at June Lake

When I worked in construction (I was also 19... Hmm dangerous year!) I almost slipped off a 3 story roof onto a concrete parking lot!

**Ming** · May 21st, 2002, 11:02 PM

I don't think adventures are really as scary so much as actual misfortune. About a year ago, I was riding a bike and some car runs through a stop sign full speed and hits me. Fortunately I weigh a lot and I flew over the front end of the car rather than sliding under it. I didn't suffer serious injury (and was also wearing a helmet), but the bike was mangled. Not only did the person drive off, nobody on the road stopped and I ended having to crawl to the side of the road. I haven't ridden a bike since.