Cave hobbyism

I've become curious about how many spelunkers are out there. One of the hobbies of me and my friends that very few people know about is cave exploration, or spelunking as it's called in the United States. It's a hobby that traces itself to my grandfather; he had a job post-WWII where he would venture into caves because there was a fear samurai were hiding in caves all across the Pacific. This turned into cave exploration skills which he passed onto my friends (less so me, I can "technically" do it for the visual enjoyment and do certain aspects better but consider it a safety red flag). I usually sit by as "reinforcements" outside a cave even though I do sometimes fancy some visuals.

There are a number of caves where we are, as it's one of the most erosion-rich regions in the world if not the most. Sometimes my friends discover things, either they take pictures or set them up for analysis. The activity can be so fascinating, caves are the opposite of open books and it's fun to "leave a mark" as you go, if that makes sense; it's like playing a video game in real life. Everyone talks about urban exploration, which is less insightful/legal and always involves places that were once sprawling anyways. Nobody talks about spelunking.

Any of you spelunkers out there? What caves have you been to? What's the most you've ever done, and what things have you discovered or brought back? And what did your experience involve?

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I have a question about spelunking and parasites. Do bats carry ticks or mites that may potentially cause infections? Or is there any noxious bugs that might cause issues for you in caves? My college age son went spelunking in April and he said he removed a tick, but he’s got several similar bite lesions that have never gone away. He and his friends did encounter bats in the caves.
- Worked in caves for 3+ years now. In my neck of the woods the worst ya gotta worry about is rabies, but the bats here seldom bite unless provoked. We're more of a threat to the bats though since we can spread white nose syndrome which can wipe out bat colonies.
  
  One of many reasons people should clean everything and themselves before and after cave exploring. It surprises me how many people don't.
- Some very important notes for your son:
  Caves are cold so not many insects go down there.
  If he got bit by a tick check for tick diseases. I know the big one around here is Lyme Disease. If he has a bullseye shape around the bite that’s a sign of an infection. I don’t know if other tick diseases are prevalent in your area.
  If he was in close contact with bats and may have been bitten get him checked for rabies. While very rare, there are still occasional cases across the US. It can remain dormant for a very long time but once it crosses the blood brain barrier and infects the brain there is no help. It’s better to get him checked and vaccinated early than wait and see.
  Just some numbers on the rabies, there are about 5k animal cases reported yearly nationwide, mostly wild animals. Only 1-3 yearly reports in humans. So it’s rare and unlikely, but it’s just not something you fuck around with and risk.
  
  Thanks. He did have a very faint bullseye, he got on to doxycycline for three weeks three different times. The urgent care did a tick panel and it supposedly was negative for Lyme and all associated infections. Dermatologist is doing lab work on two biopsies from the bite/rash locations. We’re expecting that back in a week or so.
  
  TIL ticks can transfer rabies.
  
  I didn’t think they could? I was referring to the bats themselves having rabies.
  I did some searching and am not finding anything to say ticks can transmit rabies. Though I found some articles from the 50’s saying they can’t, but nothing recent at all.
  
  Oh. My bad then, that was me misunderstanding you.
- Even though a bat or other animal could always carry them in from outside, they're far less common in the actual caves.

29 comments