Anyone ever stay in a cave?

i've spent some time in caves before. you're gonna want a sleeping pad for sure to go with your bag, ground gets damn cold and stiff and you'll wake up freezing to death otherwise -- no exaggeration.
what kind of cave were you thinking about?
if it's more of a cavern definitely do NOT go past the point where you cannot see the opening. you might feel confident but you'll have fucked yourself something miserable if you get lost.
flashlight, extra extra batteries. when i stayed a couple nights i learned i was afraid of absolute darkness! these things get damn pitch black and i was clicking my light on at every noise. finally checked my watch to see it was 6am (there's absolutely no sunlight in some of these caves) and tried to click the headlamp on but it wouldn't start. nearly panicked that's for sure. had to shuffle around in the dark for my pack and the extra batteries.

in short just be careful mate.
 
I dont see why anyone would want to stay in a cavern unless the outside weather is absolutely br00tal. Caves are where it's at though, that's a home build to sustain many different creatures for centuries. An enclosed cave (aside from the entrance) provides amazing insulation for fireheat to linger.
 
stayed in man made caves nad pretended they were real caves, and the ditches were real spring water
 
be very careful, snakes, bears, like to hiberate and can be very pissed if distrubed. also building a fire can burn all the air up , and smoke you out to the point of not being able to fine your way back out. if you are looking to explor past the opening , i always tie a fishing line off outside and unwind it as i go deeper, that way i can just wind it back find my way back
 
there are some decent caves in and around austin. they get some visitors during the day, maybe the occasional homebum at night, no bears though! camp near the openings.
 
only thing was mold,but also some "good mold"but i liked it cause one way in and you knew when someone was there and easy to make boobytraps for nights and for when making beer run
 
the re is a sweet cave you can stay in in la. its at a place called the top of the world its hiddenon the side of the mountain has a beautiful view of la nad comes complete with a rug already in it!
 
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Yeah, fire can deplete the oxygen in the air - this will kill you. Smoke can also loosen particles in the cave's ceiling, which could collapse - this will also kill you. In other words, don't set a fire unless there is a lot of air flow.

Also, be careful of flooding.

And, air quality could be bad from people setting fires before you arrive, so, yeahhhhh, just be really careful.
 
my story of a cave

minturn colorado
4 ft of snow on the ground and i had just got kicked out of the minturn hotel(used to be an old railroad hotel [while rummaging found my prize reverse key] and had decided to reside in a cave a few hundred yards away from the hotel.i had been using the cave for weeks as a smoke out spot,had tacked up a brown and orange blanket a few yrds into the entrance so any passerbys just seen brown nothingness and drageed a few tires(3to be exact)into this nice hobbit hole i had,knowing my air circulation was not that great(outside was 14 degrees with wind inside the cave was nice 64-5 no wind)i knew a fire was out of the question.such a tiny space(aprx 15 ft long total with 4x8x4 area livable)i would surly die if i made a wood fire,but i had unlimited supply of sterno(job at the time was gravy but i just started and was waiting on my first check and employee housing)and since i figured that it was sterno it had its own fuel and such tiny flame would be like a candle but hotter.my main intention was heat not light and i did all right for a day or so.would burn my sterno an hour or so and go to sleep.well after about a week of this i started getting sick, by day 12 i was running a fevoer of 102.went to the doc and and they told me i needed some fresh air.i was killing my self slowly.it was a miricale i woke up every morning for 12 days.i moved to a storage closet of the arrablle in vail colorado that day cause i noticed they had baseboard heaters lol
 
There's a cave in columbia missouri called the devils ice box for good reason its stays a cool 62 degrees year round. And it goes deep. like hills have eyes deep. Recently the bats have migrated to a cavern unacessable unless you bring a raft. Flash light is a must. And if you dont want to be chinese water tortured from dripping moist cave bring a tent or tarp. Still a bit of a gamble. Ranger has been spoted on the trail but rarely gose into the ice box. Tent camping is permitted in the area just before ice box. It State park rangers be observing for safety.
 
I've been to a party or two in abandoned mines and it can be done. I can't speak for multilevel shaft mines, but single level room-and-pillar mines are ideal for this- usually these are old limestone, zinc, or lead mines where the deposits were close to the surface.

These mines tend to be well ventilated, and the party I was at had a bonfire fairly deep in. The cave filled with smoke but oxygen wasn't an issue as there were multiple entrances/exits. You'll want a ground pad for sure as the floor was rough and rocky, and many of these mines are easily extensive enough for you to wander days without finding your way out if you lose your light. A similar mine I visited used to host 10 km runs in the tunnels before it was abandoned to give you an idea of scale.

I'd be more worried about getting lost than anything else- temperature tends to stay fairly constant (around 60 degrees fahrenheit) inside, but those temperatures are in areas far from exits.
 
Undercity said:
I've been to a party or two in abandoned mines and it can be done. I can't speak for multilevel shaft mines, but single level room-and-pillar mines are ideal for this- usually these are old limestone, zinc, or lead mines where the deposits were close to the surface.

These mines tend to be well ventilated, and the party I was at had a bonfire fairly deep in. The cave filled with smoke but oxygen wasn't an issue as there were multiple entrances/exits. You'll want a ground pad for sure as the floor was rough and rocky, and many of these mines are easily extensive enough for you to wander days without finding your way out if you lose your light. A similar mine I visited used to host 10 km runs in the tunnels before it was abandoned to give you an idea of scale.

I'd be more worried about getting lost than anything else- temperature tends to stay fairly constant (around 60 degrees fahrenheit) inside, but those temperatures are in areas far from exits.
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Safety tip do not every light a fire even in the mouth of a zinc mine or near it's tailing. Even a single stray spark could be instant inferno. Same thing goes for magnesium. Be careful. Living in a lead mine you'll be up for heavy metal poisonings in no time. Best thing to do is access http://minedat.org

That will give you a list with details of all of the knows mines. Even abandon
ones ;) Just note that any abandon military mines the gps locations given are in most cases purposely off, some off by a mile & sometimes they store not fun to play with hazardous stuff in there. Just be safe.
 
Micah A Schafer said:
There's a cave in columbia missouri called the devils ice box for good reason its stays a cool 62 degrees year round. And it goes deep. like hills have eyes deep. Recently the bats have migrated to a cavern unacessable unless you bring a raft. Flash light is a must. And if you dont want to be chinese water tortured from dripping moist cave bring a tent or tarp. Still a bit of a gamble. Ranger has been spoted on the trail but rarely gose into the ice box. Tent camping is permitted in the area just before ice box. It State park rangers be observing for safety.
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I'm from this area. This is the primary reason I do not stay in caves around home. They are always damp and can get very cold.
 
I ducked out of the heat in an old mine shaft with some friends once in so cal. It was about 102 outside and we all had to crawl into this tiny hole in the side of a hill to get inside. I sat down while everyone was talking and ended up falling asleep. I woke up with every pore of my body and tiny piece of gear I had full of a brown talcum powder like dust that had blown in though that hole over years. A swear I could still taste it in my mouth a week later. Never again. Lots of caves can be nice places to hang out in. Maybe check a few out. Get some local knowledge before dosing off in one. Not all dangers are as well mannered as sleeping bears or crumbling rocks. All sorts of little things live in caves. Pack-rats, bats, and the like are all important members of the ecosystem. But can also carry diseases.
 
DJnNJ said:
also building a fire can burn all the air up , and smoke you out to the point of not being able to fine your way back out.
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Fire can also cause the roof to fall-in on top of you and crush you to death while you're sleeping. If you're going to build fire in a cave be sure to heat it up slowly. The few times I've stayed in small caves and under rocky overhangs I've built fires hours before I planned on sleeping. Even then I'd be nervous all night about the roof falling in on top of me. If possible I build the fire just outside of the cave and reflect the heat into it using a backstop. I don't want a car sized boulder breaking loose in the middle of the night.
 
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