Chapter 2: New Explorers

Ken played his light around the cave, and saw that it was getting tighter. They were descending into an unexplored cave system at the bottom of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Ken moved some smaller rocks out of his way, and pointed his light down the incline. The area was less than eleven inches high at his position, but it seemed to widen out a few feet farther on. Looking deeply into the darkness, and seeing no danger of loose rock, he turned his body on its side. He looked back at the nearest light. It was about three feet behind him. He called to the light's owner.

"Jenny, it gets a little tight here, but it looks like it opens up about two or three feet after that."

He pulled the rope that held his pick up to his hand. He grabbed the pick, and reached ahead of himself. He placed the wedge side of the pick up against the roof of the soft rock, and started scraping some of the soft sandstone loose. He quickly dug another few inches of clearance from the roof of the tunnel, and brushed the debris out of the way.

He pushed the pick ahead of himself, and found a crack with its tip. Using the pick and his feet to try to move, he scooted and pulled himself forward. His pack followed on a tether line, behind him.

He felt his back scrape the roof, so he exhaled as he moved forward. He used the pick to find more cracks to pull his six-foot, one hundred eighty pound body through the opening.

Three minutes later, and four feet further along, he was able to sit up.

Reaching into his pack, he pulled out four of the blue light sticks. He snapped them and started shaking them. As they lit up, he scattered them in a semi circle. Looking back down the passageway, he saw the lights of his friends, and said into his microphone,

"Hey, guys ... about four feet past the tight area there is enough room for all of us to sit up."

He pulled a Dasani water bottle from his pack. He drank about a third of it, as the next person neared him.

Looking into his sister's dirty face he asked, "How you doing there, Jen?"

Her brown hair was hanging down in front of her eyes as she pulled herself out of the small tunnel with a groan.

Jenny sat up, leaned back against the tunnel wall, and blew the hair out of her eyes as she looked at him.

"I still cannot believe you talked me into this. I have sore muscles, that I did not even know existed. I swear we must have come down a mile, already."

With a grin on his face, he remembered his first descent, and how sore he was from the experience. Taking a small sip of water, he handed her the rest of the water.

"Here, drink this. You need it ... And no, we're only about seven hundred feet down." Shining his light down the tunnel he added, "It looks like it gets taller up ahead. We might be able to stretch a little before we continue."

He looked back at his little sister. She was just eighteen years old, and only stood five foot even. If she was ninety-five pounds, it was only because she was soaking wet. She was gorgeous.

Her dirty face and striking beauty hid her more deadly side. She had a double black belt in karate and aikido. She was a woman who would not take crap from anyone. If she had not been his sister, she would be the one he would have wanted as a wife ... or perhaps there was one other that they both knew very well.

She grabbed the offered water, and drank it down. She started to throw the bottle aside, and then she remembered her brother's rules. She stuffed the empty bottle back into his pack.

As she was pulling her hand out, she saw a Snickers bar. She quickly grabbed it, sat back, and opened the wrapper. She slowly munched on the candy bar. A sigh of contentment went through her young body as she felt the chocolate melt into her system.

Ken dug into his pack and pulled out a roll of reflective tape. He peeled some of the tape off the roll, and made a double arrow on the wall pointing up, with a single arrow pointing down.

As he did this, the last two people in the group joined them. They were Ken and Jenny's best friends from high school: Theodore and Tammy White. They were twins. The four of them frequently dated during school dances and such. Both were of medium height, with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Ted? Tammy? We will take another ten minutes if you need it. If not, at least drink some water, so you don't get dehydrated."

The twins looked at each, and they both said at the same time.

"Yeah, a rest will be great."

Putting the tape away, Ken looked at his sister eating his Snickers Bar.

"You 'greedy guts'! I know you have some in your own pack, but you had to grab my last Snickers."

She stuck her tongue out at him, and then grinned evilly at him.

"You're my big brother. You're supposed to 'share'. Besides, your pack was open. If you want, I will get one out of mine."

She smiled sweetly at her nineteen-year-old brother who was shaking his head back and forth.

"Nah, that's okay. I want this."

He pulled out a bag of trail mix and sat back. He started munching on the snack food. He looked at his companions, and he could see how tired they were. However, the excitement of the adventure was there, too.

"I figure we will descend for a couple more hours, and then camp for the night, if that's okay with everyone else?"

Jenny looked at everyone and waited for them to say something. When they did not she spoke up.

"That's fine by me. I know you love this. Why, I don't know. But it is kind of neat to see all this history of how the earth developed," she said. She glanced around and gestured at the red sandstone with white streaks mixed into it, as she added, "Just this alone is so beautiful! If I had my way, my future house would be made of it."

Tammy scooted over to Ken. She leaned over, and kissed him on his cheek.

"Thanks! This has been a fun vacation, and I am getting lots of pictures for the school paper."

Ken blushed and smiled at her.

"You're welcome. I am happy you're enjoying it."

So that he would not say anything that would embarrass himself, he grabbed his pack and stuffed the remaining trail mix into a side pocket. He swung it onto his back.

"Let's get going. Everyone grab a light stick. They will last about ten hours."

He pulled his helmet off, and slipped his light stick under the elastic band on it then put his helmet back on. He started moving down the passage. The farther he went the higher the roof got, until it rose up enough so that they were able to walk upright.

Coming out onto a ledge of a chasm, they looked around in awe as the water dripped from stalactites hanging from the roof. Pulling his pack off his back, Ken opened a side pocket on it, and took a powerful flashlight out.

He turned it on and pointed it across the cavern. The beam of light did not even reach halfway across. Shining it downwards, he saw a pool of water. Quartz crystals made the light sparkle. They stood there stunned by the immensity and beauty that was right in front of them.

Tammy reached into the padded case at her waist, and pulled out her digital camera. She adjusted and focused it on one of the stalactites. As she pressed the button, Ken turned the flashlight off. The bright light flashed through the chamber, leaving an after-image on all of their eyes.

Ken put the flashlight back in the pack, and untied the rope hanging from the back. Then he pulled out a piton. He used the flat side of his hammer to tap it into a crack.

As Ken worked, another bright flash came from behind him. He looked over his shoulder at Tammy, as she was putting her digital camera back into its padded case.

Jenny leaned over the edge, and looked down into the darkness.

"We're not going down there are we?"

Looking over at his sister, Ken smiled at her as he saw the fear on her face.

"Yes ... we are, or at least I am," he replied confidently.

He threaded his rope through the piton, and tossed the coil of rope over the ledge. It fell about fifty feet, and slapped loudly onto the ground.

He picked his gloves up from the floor, and slipped them back on to his hands. Then he swung his pack onto his back again. He waked to the edge with the rope in his hands, and snapped the rope into his belt loop and harness. Double-checking his connections, he stepped to the edge and smiled at them.

"Coming?"

With that single word, he jumped off the edge, and started rappelling down the drop, within seconds his feet hit bottom. Holding the rope, he spoke into his mic as he looked up.

"Okay, I'm at the bottom. Come on down."

Ted helped Jen hook up, and whispered to her, "Your brother pushed it, there. He should not go that fast." Looking Jenny in her eyes he continued, "Jenny, just take it nice and slow. There is no reason to hurry."

"I will, Ted," Jenny said as she double-checked her connections.

Ken watched as his sister hooked up and started down. Her progress was a little bit slower than what he'd managed, but she followed the directions that he'd drilled into her as she came down. She only tapped the wall, just as he had trained her.

"Sis, you're doing very good, there. Keep coming down slowly."

She pushed off the rock face and dropped another few feet. Hearing Ken's instructions, she spoke into her microphone, and replied, "Thanks, Ken."

Twenty seconds later, she was down beside him. He reached out, and steadied her onto her feet.

"Sis, you did very good, there."

Giving her a quick hug, he went back to steadying the rope, and looking up at the rest of the group.

"Tammy? You're next. Ted, you bring up the rear. Help keep Tammy steady as she comes down."

The twins were both soon beside him. The group spread out and examined the cavern.

Tammy wandered around the cavern, and found some beautiful crystals. Picking up a few, she saw several were about three inches long, and were very clear.

"Lisa will like these."

Sticking them into her pouch, she continued to look for more, and found a solid blue one.

"Wow."

Picking it up, she added it to the ones in her pouch. Unknowingly, she had just picked something that was more than a mere crystal.

After spending ten minutes examining the cavern, the four of them gathered together. They decided to rest for a few minutes, before they set up a quick camp to prepare some dinner.

Ken sat down, and dug into his pack. He brought out a small 'Sterno' stove, a collapsible pot, and several bottles of water. Pouring some of the water into the pot, he dug out several packages of instant coffee. As the water heated, he pulled out one of the three MRE's he was carrying.

"Let's get some hot food inside of us. We can use the spring water to heat our food, while the coffee water gets hot."

Ripping open the green package, he found that the package contained meatloaf.

"I haven't had the meatloaf. I hope its better then the chicken cacciatore."

He opened the enclosed plastic sleeve, and put the meal package into it. Then he walked over to the spring. He scooped some water into the sleeve, and then sealed it.

As the food heated, he went back to the stove. He pulled out his collapsible cup, and scooped some instant coffee into it. He added creamer and sugar from small paper packets. He stirred the coffee water into the cup. A few minutes later, he checked his dinner, and saw that it was hot.

As he was opening the food, he looked at his sister, and asked, "What are you having, Jen?"

He picked up his fork, and stabbed a piece of his meatloaf. He took a bite of it, and stopped. He looked at the food, shook his head, and looked into the MRE bag. He found the tiny package of hot sauce.

"Maybe this will make it better," he mumbled.

He poured the liquid on and messed it around. He then took another taste of the food. He noticed it at least had a bit of flavor now, instead of tasting like cardboard.

Jen looked at her package and said, "Beef stew."

She pulled the package open after it had finished heating, and smelled it.

"Smells pretty good," she said with a smile as she started eating.

Ted and Tammy both had beef ravioli dinners, and ate them with ravenous appetite.

Ted looked up and said, "The ravioli is great."

Tammy nodded her head in agreement, as she was busy chewing.

Ken shook his head and looked at them with a smile in his eyes.

"You two are weird! You are the only people I know of, who could probably eat these every day."

Taking the wrappings from his dinner, he placed them in a zip lock bag and stuffed the trash into his pack. He reached over and turned the stove off. He grabbed his coffee, sat back, and looked around the cave.

"Damn, but this is a beautiful spot."

Tammy looked at Ken and started laughing at his words, "Yeah we could eat them every day. Hell, we both love sushi! And you are right, it is beautiful, here. I need to get more pics for the year book."

They laughed as Ken shuddered at the word 'sushi'.

"You know, Ken, we couldn't find a better place than this. Why don't we spend the night here, and continue on in the morning?"

Jen shook her head and looked at her best friend.

"I am sorry, but eating raw fish is just gross. But, Tammy, spending the night here is fine by me."

With a giggle at Jen's words, she placed her trash in a plastic baggie.

"I am going to get some more pics," Tammy said.

Tammy reached into her 'fanny pack', and pulled out her camera. Standing up she started walking around the cavern, taking pics of anything that caught her eye. As she took a pic of a beautiful piece of sandstone, she walked around a slight bend in the wall and found another tunnel.