On Top of Cement Creek Cave, Colorado, USA

Photograph taken in July 2007

Excavating in caves can be uncomfortable. Dank and cold, Cement Creek Cave (near Gunnison, Colorado, PI's David Meltzer and Steve Emslie) was no exception. Though I've worked in a number caves and rockshelters before, they differed from Cement Creek Cave in one important respect: you did not have to snake your way through 30 meters of narrow cave passages to reach the desired excavation spot. Such sinuous crawling reminds you of three important aspects about caves perhaps not immediately realized while working in large, 'typical,' walk-in caves:

(1) Cave floors are hard.
(2) Cave ceilings are hard.
(3) Cave walls are hard.

While the scientific information and excavation of Cement Creek Cave was fantastic, by the end of each workday I was ready for sunlight, warmth, and a soft bed.

For these reasons, this post's picture is one of my favorites. While at first it may seem simply like a scenic vista, there is more to it than that. Towards the end of the excavation, my fellow SMU colleague and friend Andrew Boehm (pictured) and I decided to climb to the top of the cave to have a look around. Upon reaching the top, we unintentionally stumbled onto a view entirely contra that of the cave. The skies, spacious and open, contrasted with the tight cave tunnels. The sun provided welcome warmth and light so obviously absent from the cave's deepest chambers. And those exhilarating, cushioned, lordly clouds could not differ more from the hard, inflexible, and impenetrable cave walls.