I have friends who ask me why I love caving, after all the wonders to see in our world, why would anyone want to venture underground. Travelling through hard, flat-out crawls, tight holes and seemingly endless long drops through steep and fast-flowing waterfalls. All this to just to reach the bottom of some hole. I always struggle to find a way to answer this in a style that could help them understand just what it is that draws us underground, and I usually fail.
I dropped into my first hole when I was about 7 years old and I have never looked back. That was many years ago. My boys Robert and Forrest both have gotten the bug and they love getting underground.
We are not just cavers though, we love searching out new caves and we have found quite a few of them. Cave hunting is my thrill now, as after many injuries, a screwed-up knee, and 70 years of hard use, I find I don’t bend well. I now find that exploring the holes is something l struggle with, walk-in caves are cool though and I love getting in to explore them. For the past couple of years we have been hunting caves up in the Adams River area, Over the years we have explored areas around Tahsis and Holberg and other areas on the south island.
We spent time exploring the area around the Minigil cave, crawling about in caves like peat cave, deer cave or the raging river cave. There must be many more in this area. Of course, we always love getting out searching for caves up on the Memekay River where I dropped into my first hole. Every time we go out, we find one or more caves, or we can at least conclude an area to be cave-free, although there was a time I walked by a cave many times before seeing it, this was the fishy-hole cave up on the Memekay River, so one should never call an area cave free.
We love to go caving but there are a few things you need to know before entering any cave system. Are there any drop-offs in this system, are there fast-flowing underground rivers that can be a hazard? Is there more than one route to follow, there is nothing worse than getting lost in a multi-cave system.
When you are going into a system, always carry a map of the cave system (if possible), carry several sources of light, l like to have a headlamp and handheld flashlight, and l always carry several long-burning candles for an emergency like a flashlight or headlamp failure. A helmet can save you from some nasty bumps to the head and always bring extra warm clothing as cave temperatures change little through the seasons.
The Upanna cave system is located about 17 km west of Gold River, on Head Bay Forest Rd, on Vancouver Island. These caves are just awesome to hike in and you can find everything here in formations and cave life, lots of crickets and spiders to photograph here.
There are many caves in the Paterson Lake area, one of which is so large, that it takes 2 days to travel through, requiring a night spent underground. Holberg area has a few very big and deep caves, but be careful here as there is a chance of running into underground rivers. The Zeballos area also has some very beautiful caves, some of these are protected and you need to have a guide to enter. Then there is the Horn Lake cave system, one of our more famous karst systems, these caves are incredible.
For an even deeper adventure, join a guided tour of the white ridge caves. The White Ridge Provincial Park is located at the boundary of Strathcona Provincial Park’s northwest corner on the Gold River Highway. The park is located 4 km west of Gold River and is accessed off Gold River Highway on the BR 80 logging road.
The Huson Cave system is a great place to introduce the public to caves carved out of limestone rock by Atluck Creek. The system contains 15 caves that are easy and safe, perfect for the inexperienced caver; no special equipment is necessary. The Little Huson Lake Cave Park is in an incredible area of the island and the canyon has some very special features which are unique to Vancouver Island.
The Cave Park includes the Atluck Creek Canyon. This canyon has some interesting beautiful features, there is a wonderful natural bridge that is quite amazing and a large cave entrance where the creek flows underground for 60 meters, this is known as the cathedral cave entrance. The bridge feature is the only one on Vancouver Island.
The park has some other minor karst features like scallops that form in the rock walls, they are rippled rock surfaces that have been created by high-pressure water flow.
There are ample areas to camp in the area, with the Huson Lake site being the closest, this is a very nice campground with lots of space. There is a boat ramp and picnic tables along with a very large green area.
The beautiful Eternal Fountain waterfall is a spot that all should visit, this waterfall is truly amazing and a wonder to see, it flows out of the rock face, drops for about 5 meters, and then disappears back into the mountain. If the beauty of these falls is not enough for you, you can drop down to the base of the falls and go behind to discover the backside of this underground waterfall. There is a beautiful subterranean passage that has been sculpted out of red rock, it has been carved out by the passing of the underground river.
The tunnel behind the falls meanders along as it follows the roaring stream on its route through the cave to the end where it drops into a deep sump and disappears. An awesome sight to see, but please be careful as the rock passage can be very slippery.
Along the route, you will also have the opportunity to visit some other incredible spots like the Devil’s Bath, Canada’s only cenote, a cenote is a sinkhole surrounded by rock bluffs and is filled with groundwater. The Devil’s Bath is connected to the Benson River Cave system via an underwater cave. Devil’s Bath is located in the Quatsino limestone karst system, which contains many karst formations and cave systems.
You can also visit the Vanishing River and the Reappearing River, a part of the Benson River that flows underground for about 2 km before reappearing again. The trail into this site is not marked, there has been a washout on the trail route and it’s suggested that you pass this spot by. But if you are adventurous, you can locate the trail, and hike in on a short trail that takes you to an incredible place, you will see a river roaring down a canyon and then dropping into a deep hole and disappearing into the mountain, only to reappear some 2 km away. Quite a sight to see.
To get to the Eternal Fountain along with the Devils Bath and the Disappearing River from hwy 19, turn off onto Keogh Rd just north of Port McNeil and head south, drive a short distance and you will see a sizeable directional sign with a map of the Alice Lake Loop, this is where you choose your route. The drive is about 100 km, with a driving time of 2 to 3 hours, but you will want to have the whole day, so you can explore these wonders completely.
On your drive, you will have a good chance of seeing black bears, elk, cougars, deer, wolves, and any number of smaller forest creatures and if that is not enough, the bird life here is just incredible. The numerous lakes you will pass have exceptional fishing along with great camping areas, so you could take your time and stay overnight in one or more campgrounds and spend several days here. This would allow you to get to see the north island and all it has to offer. Be careful though, caving can become an obsession.