My story with the Nutty Putty Cave goes all the way back to my junior year in high school. One evening I was hanging out with several of my guy friends when they all decided to go down to Nutty Putty Cave. I pretty much had no idea what to expect...I thought it would be a large cavern in which you walk into and explore. When we got there and I saw that the opening to the cave was a 2 foot hole in the ground, I said NO WAY! I was on my way to the car to wait during their 'little' exploration when one friend informed me that I would be waiting in the car for 4 hours while they explored. Hm...ok, I decided to go in.
It turns out that I was right in thinking I was a person with claustrophobia; a fear of tight spaces (after squeezing myself through 'The Birth Canal'). But that evening as I was exploring that AMAZING cave, I realized what it meant to face a fear and overcome it. By the time we left, I was loving Nutty Putty Cave. I took the chance over the next two years to encourage any return trips to Nutty Putty with those guys. And Brent might have come along as one of those guy friends once or twice...
The next Nutty Putty phase of my life began my freshman year at BYU (Brigham Young Universtiy in Utah)...summer term. I was accepted to BYU on the contingency that I started summer term, you see (I spent a little too much of my high school time playing that my grades weren't what they could've and should've been to get into BYU, which is quite a competitive school. [I mean, its no Harvard though :-)])...and there was absolutely NO WAY that I was going to go to college summer term, right after high school graduation, without a break and NOT take a class like "Introduction to Outdoor Recreation". So...tucked in among classes such as Introduction to College Writing, New Testament Studies, and Intermediate Swimming...was Introduction to Outdoor Recreation. Did I mention that this (and skiing) were the best classes I took at BYU? Well the most fun, anyway.
Introduction to Outdoor recreation was led by a professor who took our small class of about 15 girls and 1 boy, Eduardo on recreational jaunts twice a week. We did canoing, mountain biking, hiking, a high ropes course, the Nutty Putty Caves...and the crowning event of our term was an awesome hiking trip to Southern Utah: Capitol Reef National Park, Little Wildhorse and Bell Canyons, and The Black Hole...cultivating my love for canyoneering. But I digress...back to Nutty Putty Cave: our professor was a Nutty Putty Cave expert, and he led us through the passages with surity and knowledge...teaching us the proper safety and techniques and the names of each passage and every little nook and cranny! I soaked all of this in as I was now learning so much more about a place I had been to many times, conquered a fear in, and grown to love.
This map was found at http://www.nuttyputtycave.com/maps.html
The next three years down at BYU, I took the liberty to share my knowledge of the cave with other students. I often led groups of students from my classes, my dorm and/or wards (church groups) on Nutty Putty trips...often at 10 pm on Saturday nights, where we would be out all night in the cave (and get back in time to shower, get two hours of sleep, and wake up to go to church). I remember one time in particular I took a group of all girls and on the way there, my ol' silver Ford Tauras (The "Spaceship Enterprise") got stuck in a very deep and very muddy rut in the road. We said a quick prayer, got out and I am absolutely certain that the six of us WOMEN lifted my car out of the mud.
I remember my very last trip to the cave. I took a group of girlfriends with whom I had worked a summer at Brighton LDS Girls Camp with. It was during the day, for a change. I felt that I had attainted absolute knowledge and surity of the cave's passages by this trip. I felt a maturity that I hadn't felt there before. Yet at this culmination, I felt done with Nutty Putty Cave. I felt like I had accomplished something great, and I was done. I never returned. I graduated from college, got married, started a career, had children and the rest is history.
So, my point in writing this personal history comes back to the fate of this cave: SHOULD IT BE CLOSED forever, sealed shut with concrete or a pile of rubble? I can understand the thought process that has gone into making such a decision. The rescue mission for the young man was long and physically AND emotionally taxing. A few people have been stuck in tight passages over the years. This is the first fatality. And because the passage where the young man died will be his final resting place, this makes the cave a hallowed and sacred place.
But I have also heard the option of sealing off the passage where the young man died and leaving the rest of the cave open to be explored only by permit and/or guided tours. I favor this option. I know it sounds morbid, but if this had happened to me and my husband or father had the final resting place inside the cave...I would like to have the option to go into the cave and get as close to him as possible. Maybe not right away, but at some point... And truly, this cave is magnificent! I would love to be able to go on a guided tour someday with my children, if the time ever felt right again.
So...what do YOU think?
4 comments:
I'm with you....I've never been there, but I think closing off the whole thing is kinda too much. So long as people are completely aware of what they are getting into, have permits, guides, etc, I think the rest of the cave should remain open. That story was so sad about that guy...
One trip across South Dakota (long ago) we stopped at Jewel Cave and took a tour. HOLY COW that place is cool. The main tour goes through big caverns way deep down. But experienced spelunkers can go on other tours that require more advanced skills....BUT, to be allowed on the tour you have to be able to fit through this concrete thing that's the same size and shape as the smallest passage in the cave. Anyways. Something like that at Nutty Putty would help.
I think that map of nutty putty looks a lot like a large intestine!
Thanks for sharing your thoughts here - it's been on our minds as well. One young man in our ward was part of a group that needed search and rescue to help them get out a couple of years ago. I only went to Nutty Putty once and faced my claustrophobia for two hours and then I was done. It is a magnificent place. I would sure hate to hear of another death there, but perhaps they should just close off the one area. I don't know. It's been so sad to think about.
So you're a spelunker?? Add this to "interesting facts I didn't know about Kate"! I have no desire to crawl around in any cave, anywhere. That totally freaks me out! I have been down in some less compact caves though, which is really cool. We wanted to go on a cave tour down in Northern California when we went 4 years ago, but they said that it wasn't a great idea with young kids (the boys were almost 4, 2, and 5 months!)