Defying Gravity

Somewhere outside of Bear Valley, California, nestled in the Sierra foothills, is the Moaning Cavern. This colorful limestone cavern is so massive that the Statue of Liberty could easily fit inside of it. Tourists are welcomed to take guided tours down the 100 ft spiraling staircase, or if they are a bit more adventurous, they can rappel 165 feet down the inside of the cavern by rope. “No previous experience is necessary to find your inner spelunker!”

When I read these words in the California Guide Book, I was hooked. This is exactly the kind of experience I dreamt about when I first moved to California. I knew that my friends back in Alabama would be so impressed, as if my experience would earn me some long coveted Girl Scout badge.

Regardless of my reasons, my husband and I drove down towards Bear Valley and prepared for our adventure. When we first arrived, I was excited and trembling with anticipation, but that quickly turned to fear as I browsed the long list of injuries they were not responsible for–broken extremities, paralysis, death. I began to scrutinize the gear, the ropes and the staff with the intensity of an operating room nurse. How diligent were they at testing this material? Were there ever any injuries? Is the guy securing my harness stoned or do his eyes always look that way?

I pushed my fear down into a small cavity inside of my gut and began my decent into the small dark tunnel. At first it was a bit claustrophobic, but soon I began to ease up. This wasn’t so bad, I told myself and then I saw the light. Moaning Caverns suddenly opened before me and my fear turned to panic. As I backed over the ledge, I realized that I would have to dangle on my harness a full 165 ft in the air. My feet were frozen, glued to the tunnel floor. The line started to back up as I sat motionless, but try as I might I couldn’t make my feet budge. The tourists on the ground were like small ants and a paralyzing fear shot up my legs and spine.As scared as I was, I had no choice but to take the plunge. I would never get down to safety unless I did, and several angry spelunkers were beginning to make their case in my direction. So against the better judgment of thousands of years of evolution, I let go and closed my eyes. Inch by inch I worked my way down with my heart thumping in my chest the entire time. As I got closer to the ground, I began to get a bit braver and allowed myself to look around. The cavern was beautiful with amazing limestone patterns and stalagmites and stalactites.

When we were through, we handed in our gear and headed back to the surface via the spiral staircase. As we drove away, neither one of us said a word–there was nothing to say–fear has a way of rendering you speechless. As the miles passed by, we began to grow comfortable in our safety and started to talk about our adventure.

I wasn’t as brave or adventurous as I originally thought, but I was proud of myself for accomplishing it. And now, the woman I am in my thirties is incredibly grateful to that brave twenty five year old for taking the plunge. There are moments in life when we all must defy gravity and let go once in a while. After all, they are the moments that life is made of.

When have you defied gravity lately?

Tags: adventure, anxiety, california, fear, Memories, moaning caverns, rappeling

This entry was posted on February 02nd, 2009 and is filed under Memories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.