WHAT TO WEAR AND BRING ON YOUR CAVING TRIP
- A change of clothes - to include a pair of shoes, pants. shirt and socks. Please don't forget this, as the clothes you wear into the cave will become too dirty to wear in the car on the trip home. You will need a large trash bag to put the muddy clothes in for the trip home.
- A pair of lug-soled boots (preferred), work boots or hiking boots. Tennis shoes may be used a last resort, but are not recommended because they do not offer secure footing on slippery surfaces. These shoes will become very muddy and scraped-up.
- Old jeans or heavy pants. These will never be the same again, so wear something you can get really dirty and perhaps torn. Sweat pants are not recommended. Coveralls, work well as an outer top and bottom, durable "mud suit".
- Wear a T-shirt and one or two flannel or sweat shirts or some equivalent clothing that will keep you comfortable at 54°. As with the jeans, those will get dirty and probably ripped.
- Gloves - workman's gloves, the heavy brown cotton kind are good. Also, you may want to wear knee pads, since some crawling will be necessary.
- Bring a backpack or side pack for carrying the following items:
- one or two flashlights with good batteries,
- canteen of water,
- lunch or snack,
- 3 sets of AA batteries (usually 4 batteries required, so bring 12) for use with an electric headlamp, and
- a large plastic trash bag.
Remember the backpack will get muddy, so don't bring your best school backpack.
- Many people carry a snack into the cave - candy bar, gorp, sandwich, etc. Just remember, that you have to pack out the trash!
- A helmet and helmet-mounted electric lamp.
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