(Editor's note: If you haven't read Parts I and II yet, do that first.)
I was disappointed with myself.
I tried to attend this trip with my son R.J. the past couple of years but the timing never worked out. This year, R.J. is traveling with a college group, but my daughter had jumped at the invitation. Now she was in the cave without me.
"What a drag," I thought, as I sat on the ledge.
One of the teachers who could not fit in the cave began talking with me. I shared how disappointed I was.
"What are ya gonna do? If we can't fit, we can't fit."
She was right. It's not like we could shave off parts of our backs and chests to fit through the crevice. It was true, but still not much help to end my pouting.
The man who had so much advice then took off his outer shirt and tried to get in again. Still no luck.
"I guess that confirms for me that I can't fit," I thought.
The man said he was going to lose more weight, come back next year and try again. He even said he lost 15 lbs from last year and still, he couldn't fit. For a moment I had been thinking about the "losing weight and fitting in" idea, but with that testimony he blew that idea for me.
What's more, I kept looking at Millerman. He has been in the cave several times, but this time he was assigned to remain outside. "He is bigger than me," I thought, "how did he fit in?"
As I sat on the ledge pouting, I looked at Millerman then looked at myself. We had the discussion before the trip. Millerman had said, "You will fit in the cave. If I fit in, you will fit in."
But I couldn't fit in. So now I was looking for some secret clue.
I asked Millerman, who was reclining half asleep on a large bolder, "Millerman, how the heck did you fit in that cave? There is no way I can fit."
"They had to use a lot of grease on me," was his reply.
I should have expected such an answer coming from him. "No, really, how did you fit?" I asked again.
"I don't know. I just did," he replied.
I was really puzzled, and I know the women were as well.
A short time later the other group began exiting the cave. What were they doing? They were coming out from the chasm, not from where we were trying to enter. "Is there another way?" I thought.
As soon as they left, one of the teachers, who couldn't fit in the cave, came over to me and said, "Did you see where they came out of? Let's go see if we can fit through that way."
I wasn't interested at first.
I had already given up.
But as soon as she headed in I was right behind her.
We both dropped down into the chasm and looked around with our headlamps. We couldn't see far, and it would require some tight squeezing, but there was clearly more room as far as our eyes could see.
But which way was the right way? We had no idea. We decided not to chance going the wrong way and getting stuck. It wasn't long after our group started exiting the cave.
And guess how they exited? Up through the chasm.
Our leader, Tom Gardner, popped his head up from the chasm, and yelled for us to come in. As soon as I got through this bigger, yet still tight, passageway into the cave, I began yelling for the others to come in. I told them there was much more room, and soon, those of us who were left behind were all in the cave exploring.
Once you get past the tight squeeze, the cave opens up into a huge room.
There are other tight turns and passages that lead to other rooms, some requiring climbing and descending equipment. This is not an adventure I would recommend for the inexperienced.
The trip down the mountain was much easier than the trip up. We arrived back at our camp sites a little tired but well satisfied with our accomplishment.
It was another evening of networking and sharing—along with a mind teaser: "I need a Psychiatrist." I will tell you who was the last to figure out this mind game because it was me.
Alyssa and I enjoyed hanging with the group util around midnight again. Much wisdom was shared during this trip.
It requires a certain kind of person to be up for the challenges of working in the city schools with children. Many teachers don't have what it takes. It was a pleasure for my daughter and me to meet and network with the fine group of folks that attended this trip. Each one is dedicated to reaching out to our youth and doing their best to provide them with an education. I look forward to working with them in the future.
The next morning we were up early, packed and at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake by noon. Alyssa seemed ready to venture through the museum when she started out by sitting in the over-sized Adirondack chair. But after two hours of touring we were tired and ready to go home. No problem. I am a member of the museum and can return multiple times. We have several more trips to the Adirondacks to work with college groups through fall. We plan to visit the museum again.
A shout out to all you Syracuse City School teachers: Keep up the hard work, and sign up for the Adirondack trip next year. Contact Ken Miller for more information.
To those of you who would like to take your group of teens or your corporate group on an Adventure trip, contact me. We have access to numerous types of accommodations and facilities in the Adirondacks and locally.
Alyssa, Renee and I will be providing team building workshops for groups through October.
Later,
Officer Clarke
(Editor's note: Props to Officer Clarke for not giving up! Pics of the trip are here. For more information on Chimney Mountain and Eagle Cave, including a history, detailed maps, directions and labeled pics, explore this site.)
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