Ten years later, information from that site has not been published. The book has been read but not shared. Light from my helmet cuts into the darkness, and for a moment, I forget to breathe. This cave is wild. The walls are unmarked by graffiti.
Formations show no signs of vandalism.
There have been no teenage campfires. Crickets with spidery legs defy gravity on stone ledges, and tiny brown bats hang upside down, their wings folded snugly around them. Large stalactites fashioned from white and pink calcite jut from the ceiling. A few extend down to meet stalagmites and form unbroken columns of stone. Some columns bend at awkward angles - not flowing straight down, but elongated in the direction of windflow out of the cave.