Share you latest caving adventure with us.

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Discovering the Darkness

By: Laura Isaacs
Date: April 13, 2012

I have a strong passion for absolute darkness. Don’t get me wrong I also enjoy tight squeezes, long vertical drops, challenging climbs, breathtaking crystal formations, and the sound of water as it drips and flows. I can’t help it, I love caves but the element that lingers in my imagination longest is always the darkness.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Laura and I work for Island Pacific Adventures Ltd. at Horne Lake Caves Provincial Park as the guiding manager. Our organization has the privilege of stewarding two parks, Horne Lake Caves Provincial Park, and the Regional District of Nanaimo’s Horne Lake Family Campground. They are two properties side by side just north of Qualicum Beach B.C. Canada. We are an organization who dares to dream big. Our vision is, “A healthy earth with sustainable human interaction.” The mission we fulfill within this vision is to create a space for “adventure, education, and fun in nature.”

We are striving to achieve these lofty goals on a daily basis providing fun and informational programing for everyone who visits our parks. The cave tours we provide are not only a fun adventure they are also an opportunity to understand a bit more about the caves, about karst and about ourselves. Guests get a chance to take in the delicate nature and importance of these amazing natural spaces. We aim to provide an opportunity for people to reconnect with not only wild spaces in a real and meaningful way, but also with themselves.

For me caves represent endless opportunities to reconnect with the universe in a number of powerful ways. Over my last five years of guiding people through our caves I have been able to connect and share my passion with countless lovely people. I have experienced deep interconnectedness with the seasonal ebb and flow of nature in a beautiful space on and under the earth. I have stretched my own boundaries in surprising ways and learned so much.

Paradoxically the darkness is for me the ideal representation of the sport that has brought so much proverbial light to my life. I first visited a cave when I was 16. I was a client on a cave tour at Canmore Caverns, now 15 years later what I remember most clearly about the tour was the lights out. When vision is absent and I am allowed to see with my mind instead of my eyes it always amazes me the things my mind will show me. I would have expected this sense of awe to be lessened when I became a guide and began leading multiple tours every day. One would assume that when you experience this level of sensory depravation up to four or five times a day it would become normalized and loose some magic. For me quite the opposite is true.

I think it is in part because I have the opportunity to share the darkness with people who have never experienced anything like it before. Watching its impact on everyone but still affect them in individual ways can be inspiring. Beyond that the power of the experience lies in the fact that my understanding of my connection to nature and of myself seems to deepen every time I am immersed in true darkness.

This connection to caves and the absolute darkness is something I share with many. The guests I lead through our caves frequently share this view. When I ask what people liked best, or what surprised them on the tour the absolute darkness is a common response. It’s documented throughout history too, Montague Whitsel in his blog post Caves and the Spiritual Journey points out “It would take a book to detail all the historic and prehistoric examples exemplifying the role of caves in the lives of mystics, questers, saints and pilgrims.”

The darkness and the sound of running or dripping water have a profound effect on me. One I have been privileged to share with so many others. An experience I hope to revisit regularly throughout my life. Power and insight can be revealed in the oddest places.

The lights out is not the only impacting elements of caving. Crystal formations lead amateur explorers into life long scientific obsessions. The small spaces allow opportunity for people to push through personal fears and find somehow they’ve grown. Stepping off the edge of a cliff and trusting a rope the width of your thumb has the same awe-inspiring effect for others. Fossils and rock formations conjure images of geographic time and movement.

What I want to know is what has significance for you? I’m inviting you to share the caving experience that resonates in your life. Which caves have you visited and what do they mean to you?
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Staff Perspectives
By: Kathy Trithardt
Date: June 21, 2012

Having spent far more time in classrooms than in caves, I didn’t exactly know what I was getting myself into when I turned in my resume to be a guide at Horne Lake Caves. I had managed a tour guiding company in Edinburgh, Scotland, but the closest our tours ever went to going under ground was grabbing a pint in Bannerman’s, a pub built beneath a bridge. Upon my return to Canada, once my visa had expired for the United Kingdom, I wanted to find a job in the same line of work. First, however, I enrolled in the Tourism and Hospitality Management Diploma at North Island College.

For my co-op work term between first and second year, I applied to work at Horne Lake Caves. I had heard of it before, but never been. My first caving experience was during a group interview on site, where we took a tour of Main Cave with Lee White, the Operations Director. I could not believe that I was on a job interview AND climbing a waterfall inside a cave. I was delighted; I was excited; I was hooked.

My teachers allowed me to take my exams a week early so I could attend the once-a-year-only cave guide training (I mean, I had to do it for my co-op, right?). Soon the caves changed from areas that got me turned around to familiar friends whose hand holds and paths never hesitated to allow me to explore more each time I entered the cave. I found being in the caves extremely peaceful, and when I was finally taken on the five hour Extreme Rappel Tour, I was hit with a new wave of excitement. I was doing physical activities that I would normally never have thought to do – crawling under layers of rock, down climbing into new rooms and belay and rappelling the Rainbarrel; I felt so lucky to be working in such an amazing environment. Even though my mind had a vigorous work out when it came to learning the new cave-related knowledge, I was finally able to use my body as a tool for my work again. I have a profound love for sharing of interesting knowledge, and feel even better when that knowledge leads me on adventures with people who have never been in a wild, natural cave. I’ve since joined the Canadian Cave Conservancy, the Vancouver Island Cave Exploration Group and the British Columbia Speleological Federation.

And yes, this year I have returned to a fantastic position at Horne Lake, which allows me time to share these experiences with you. It seems my brain was needed to help run the adjacent camp ground office as a Front End Supervisor; luckily for me, I can still cave as much as I want on my off time!

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By: Ryles

Date: July 25, 2012

Hi it’s Ryles again. Since my last blog post I have done the VICEG companion cave rescue course at Horne Lake , gone to Nixon Creek caves, the Weymer cave system and back to Horne Lake Caves!!!

At the companion rescue course I loved all the rope work and it was so cool to have Phil Whitfield as our teacher.

Nixon Main was fun but Slug Swallet that Larry discovered was special because we were the first to go in it – that’s cool!!

And Weymer well that was just AMAZING!!!!!!!! We went in the biggest in size and length caves that we have ever been in.  I also got to do my first vertical caving it was an awesome weekend.

Between and after those trips we always spend time at the Horne Lake Caves we love. This weekend we get to camp and cave at HLC for the VICEG friends and family event, I can’t wait! My Granny and her friend are even coming, granny is so excited she even bought her own helmet. It’s going to be great to do more caving with granny and for her to meet the cool VICEG people.

Yahoo, HLC here we come !:-)!

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