So, we decided to go to Onesquethaw when it was 20 degrees outside, because we're dumb. I mean, we tried to dress warm- I had a neoprene superhero vest, and Gabe had a sweater that looked like it was made by a 3-year-old on crack- but it was still freezing. Fortunately, after some sketchy directions and a trek through a couple feet of snow, the cave offered warmth to us. We walked through the entry passage to the first room, where we made sure to get some pictures so that I could update my Facebook profile.
Continuing on, we came to another room, in which we discovered a PBR can full of mud, and a complete car tire. We later found other bits and pieces of this car along the route, although nothing as big as the tire. Gabe tried to ninja his way into a passage that I probably couldn't fit my head into, but we couldn't convince him to go very far. We continued on our journey, through freezing mud and water, until we reached an area with minimal clearance above the water, so that we could barely keep our heads out of the water going through. After going through this, we were getting kind of tired and cold , so we decided to head back.
The way back was uneventful, although we were very unsure if we were headed the right way. This got worse after we discovered a pair of pants that weren't ours, which we hadn't seen on the way in. Fortunately, Mitch soon recognized a familiar puddle, and we were again steadfast in our course. Upon reaching the tire again, we elected to take it with us, and Rachel carried it the rest of the way out of the cave. Immediately upon exiting the cave, we enacted the run and strip technique, sprinting through snow to the car and throwing our wet and muddy clothes off. This was harder than it sounds, given that our pants were frozen solid and nearly had to be cut off of us. Luckily, Ducky is an expert at taking clothes off, and we all managed to get stripped and changed out there. Rachel even got honked at by an 80-year-old man passing by while she was changing shirts. Also, we were able to get all of our stuff as well as the tire into the car, and we started heading back.
We ended the trip by inviting ourselves to Ducky's parents' house, and
having an awesome dinner with them, then coming home. And, uh, that's pretty much
it. Oh, and we kinda ditched the tire in the EC courtyard; it's probably been crufted
by now.
~James
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