Spelunking

What to do when its burnin up outside? Go underground in the Lava Bed caves obviously! Before you even get all the way into the cave where light doesnt reach, it is already noticably cooler. Once you start walking in deeper you can see your breath, so it was a great solution to our dilema. These are lava tubes in the Lava Beds national park in northern California. I had never been caving before but luckily Ivy is an old pro. We went with her friends Esteban and Lasheena who were a hoot. Esteban is taller than me so I wasn't the only one smackin' my noggin' on the low hanging sections. It would be so peaceful with just the slight murmur of shuffling over rocks, the aroma of burnt matches and earth then "THUNK!!" One person mutering obscenities while the other three cackle like hyenas. We spent about six hours doing the inner loop of caves and there is a whole plethra of others scattered throughout these Modoc Indian territories. Plus Captian Jacks stronghold where they made their last stand against the white man. Hopefully we'll be able to come back in the winter leg of our journey to warm up in the caves :-)