Thursday, June 25, 2009 – Day 28
Hampton Inn
The kids were excited to be in a hotel again and were even more excited that the Hampton Inn of Moncton, NB had a water slide. They were up at 7am when the pool opened to get wet. I didn’t see them in the pool much as they were busy finding creative ways to go down the water slide. They splashed around for a few hours before helping themselves to the complimentary breakfast that was served until 10am. I’m just glad they serve breakfast that late otherwise I would have missed it due to staying up late and sleeping in.
Caving Near Moncton
We couldn’t wait around long however as we had a mission. We were heading out for a family caving adventure. An adventure that none of us will easily forget. Although our one year old Teyauna was unable to participate (and Kirsten who was watching her) all of our other children from 6 to 14 were able to participate in exploring the caves that are located in a small town about 30 minutes from Moncton. We didn’t know what to expect but we did prepare by wearing long sleeve shirts, pants, a good pair of shoes and mosquito repellent.
We met our guide from Baymount Outdoor Adventure just before 1pm at a small tourist information centre. Here we were provided with flashlight helmets, track pants and shirts. These we were told were to keep our clothes clean… a statement that got my boys even more excited! They wanted to crawl around and get dirty! A feat that soon came to be.
After a short 8 minute drive, we parked our vehicles on the side of the road and started walking up a trail for 15 minutes that lead to the caves. We crossed what we were told was soon to be part Trans Canada Trail system and criss-crossed through various paths before we arrived at the North Cave.
To get to the mouth of the cave we had to climb down a steep trail and could barely see an opening in the rock in front of us. We turned on the lights to our helmets and our guide, after a brief discussion on the cave, sent each of us to explore the cave. The entrance to this cave was a steep decent into a large opening. As we climbed down the 24 degree mosquito infested air changed to a cool 8 degree bug free environment. Our guide who just retired as a school teacher was quite impressed when my 8 year old Orin, discovered a narrow passageway to the side of the cave. He instructed my kids that it was fine for them to crawl through this small tunnel and that if they could, they would be fine to explore the narrowest tunnel in the second cave we were to visit. My young kids were only too happy to squeeze through this and one other tunnel that looped around back into the main cave we were in. He only cautioned them to stay clear and watch out for a resident porcupine that has been seen in the cave from time to time. I however had to drag myself on my stomach to fit through this tunnel. It was only about 2 feet high and about as narrow.
After exploring this first cave we moved on to the South Cave that was a 5 minute hike away. This cave was even more spectacular. The temperature dropped as we descended into the gully in front of this cave. We then were cautioned to watch out for the ice that still ran down part of the entrance to this cave. Once inside we all sat down on mats brought by our guide as he provided us with a small snack. During our snack break our guide proceeded to tell us about why groups are not brought into the caves in the winter. While the last of the bats had left about 2 weeks earlier, they hibernate here during the winter. He also explained to us that bat’s hearts beat up to 1100 beats per minute when flying around in search of food while the beat as little as 3 beats per minute while they hibernate to conserve energy. Disturbing them while they hibernate can use up their reserve energy and kill them.
After our snack we had the opportunity to squeeze between two rocks called “The Sandwich”. While some people detoured around this point, my kids and I wanted to continue through the tunnel ahead by squeezing through the trickiest part of the cave. To the fright of some of the others on the tour, we made it through and continued on our hands and knees with them to a larger gymnasium size cave further into the mountain. Crawling through this tunnel to a large opening was a dirty yet amazing experience as we stood up and walked around the large opening. We kept close to our guide as in past years the stream running through this cave had been naturally diverted and caused some of the floor to collapse. We walked through the stream that led us through a tunnel to the back of the large cave. Here we all sat down once again while our guide instructed us to turn out our lights.
This was perhaps one of the best parts of our caving experience. As one by one we turned out our lights, it got darker and darker until complete darkness surrounded us. The darkness was as dark as it gets with no chance of light getting into this room. We sat in complete silence for over a minute which surprised me as even my kids didn’t make a peep. Our guide explained that when things get rough he likes to pack his gear and head into the caves to take a moment to rest and relax in the complete darkness. He then asked our group if anyone would like to crawl out of the second half of the cave in the dark. Although my kids were eager for the experience, my 6 year old Eli was less excited and the other adults in our group were not in the mood for a dark exit. In the end Eli was convinced and our guide sent the lit helmets out first while my 5 children including Eli and I exited the cave in the dark. This included the section where we had to crawl on our hands and legs to the main cave.
The kids were extremely excited with this adventurous part of our trip. They told me that it definitely was one of our trip highlights and that they would highly recommend this caving experience to anyone. I had to agree.
Confederation Bridge
Following our caving adventure we drove for two hours towards Prince Edward Island. The drive was beautiful as we drove along beautifully treed highways towards the famous Confederation Bridge, the longest Marine Bridge in the World! Due to the early morning wakeup by our kids anxious to swim and the tiresome caving adventure, I had to pull over before the bridge to wake up every one of my children. They were not happy to have to wake up so Kirsten pulled out some ice cream bars from the fridge to give them the energy they needed. That made all the difference and they were wide awake for the crossing. Confederation Bridge is an engineering marvel and we were not only amazed by its length but also by its massive size.
Following a stop just after the bridge at the information centre and “Welcome to PEI” billboard, we drove up the island to Cavendish, the centre of “Anne of Green Gables” country. The drive during the evening sun was absolutely amazing as we looked over the wild flocks growing on the side of the road and the potato fields that lined the farmlands. We took tons of pictures along the drive to our campsite in Cavendish. Prince Edward Island is definitely as beautiful as people say it is.
