Bonson's Cave - November 2008

Cavers: Eliah, Keluo, Rachel, Sid, another guy from SUOC

We went to Benson's cave. This is a wet cave with an entrance rappel in Schoharie County. Going past the "Ladie's Limit"--a low airspace crawl--requires wetsuits.  It connects to Secret Caverns, and cavers are forbidden from going down the connecting passageway (it's marked with a No Trespassing sign). 

It was a cold day in November. We met up with Eliah and his bearded Jesus friend at a Subway in Schoharie county and drove to the cave.  We hiked to the cave and Keluo rigged as we changed into our wetsuits and caving clothes, and then began rappelling down.  This was Rachel's first vertical cave. 

As is often true of vertical caves due to the difficulty of accessing them, the formations in Benson's are very beautiful and untouched. 

As we explored the cave, two of the SUOC Jesus guy's headlamps died, and he actually had to go to his third source of light--so kids, it really is a good idea!
We went past the Ladie's Limit, which really wasn't too bad.  We reached the end of the cave, which had a wet side passage that had a number of waterfalls.  There is also an active dig coming off of the last room. 

Rachel's feet were really, really cold on the way out of the cave, and she is now a firm believer in Neoprene socks. 
Overall it was an awesome caving trip.
--Sid