By Travis Akin 31.5

Standing in front of the entrance to Ava Cave, a cool breeze can be felt flowing from inside.

The entrance is small, and the only way to get inside the cave is to crawl on your hands and knees.

Outside it is a sweltering 90 degrees, but inside the cave it is a cool 58 degrees.

The first few feet of the 1.3-mile cave can only be tackled by crawling, but there is plenty of room. The really tight belly crawls will come later.

As the cavern opens up, there is more room to stand up for a little while, but up ahead lies a narrow passage and more crawling.

Shining a light on the cave walls reveals the traces of the people who have passed through in the past.

There are pieces of string scattered on the floor. The walls in some places look like a bathroom stall because people have spray painted obscenities in the cave.

In some places, care must taken not to get your hands cut on the broken shards of beer bottles left behind.

There are only small, half-inch remains of the cave’s stalactites and stalagmites. The formations have become the trophies of careless people who broke them and carried them home.

Although the cave may have been abused by some of its users, it remains a place of natural beauty.

The cave, which is about 30 minutes away from Carbondale, has several levels to it. In some places, a split is visible in the rocky floor. In these areas, the floor is muddy and slippery, and through the cracks, a small stream can be seen flowing about six feet below.

It can be difficult to get through in such areas because there is no floor to walk on. To solve this, cavers chimney over the split by putting their feet on one wall while sticking their backs on the opposing side and scooting through.

Once explorers go over the split, the journey gets a little easier. There are small rooms a person can sit in and relax for a moment.

There are no sounds. Only the breathing of people can be heard.

When the lights are switched off in a room called the Grotto, the cavers are immersed in black. There is no light to see anything; it is total darkness. The human eye cannot adjust like it does in a dark closet.

After resting, the party is ready to move ahead. There are a few twists and turns, but the worst is behind. The last stretch of the cave is about 30-40 feet of crawling.

As the cavers near the entrance, the air starts to become warmer and the light from the exit is clearly visible.

Ava Cave is one of the few caves in Illinois that is available for public use.

There are many caves in the area, but they are owned by private individuals, and their locations are a well-kept secret only known by caving organizations such as the Little Egypt Grotto. The Grotto is open to all community members.

Members of the grotto such as Geoff Schropp said the locations are hidden to keep the caves from being abused.

You need to be conservative minded because a cave is a very delicate environment, Schropp, a second-year graduate student in outdoor recreation from Bloomington, Del., said. I once was in a cave in West Virginia and someone had brought in a bag of glitter and used it to mark the way in and find the way out.

He said that when people do things such as put glitter on the floor or break beer bottles, it contaminates the cave and ruins the experience for other people.

Caving is more than just grabbing a flashlight and heading for a cave. There are safety precautions that should be taken.

A helmet is not an option, Schropp said. If you don’t wear one, sooner or later, you’ll hit your head. I also recommend wearing knee pads. I wear elbow pads, too.

Schropp brings about three sources of light and extra parts for his lights in case they are destroyed. He also brings a small first-aid kit that he keeps in small pack designed for caving.

Schropp uses a helmet with a light attached so his hands are free. His clothes are insulated well to avoid hypothermia from the cold water.

Water is a particular danger to caves in the area.

The biggest danger in this area is flooding, he said. If there is any real threat of rain, you don’t want to go in.

Charles Swedlund, a SIUC professor of photography, said water is not something to take lightly in a cave.

I’ve seen water coming in places you couldn’t even imagine, he said. It was like in Indiana Jones when the snakes are coming through the walls.

Swedlund, who has photographed caves all over the country as a research project, said being in a cave when it starts to flood can be a terrifying experience.

I was in a cave once, and I could feel the water changing color, he said. It was hog feces flowing and the water was getting higher. You look up at the ceiling that is about 10 or 12 feet above you and see grass stuck up there because the water gets that high.

That’s when you know to get the hell out of there.

Both Schropp and Swedlund said caves are dangerous but they can be safe if people use the right precautions.

Some caving sites such as Guthrie Cave, a cave operated by the Trail of Tears State Park, have strict rules before people can go into the cave.

Trail of Tears State Park is located about 40 minutes south of Carbondale on Route 127.

Andy West, site superintendent at the Trail of Tears State Forest, serves as the manager of Guthrie Cave. He said the people must go in the cave with groups of four and every person must have at least three sources of light.

The minimum group should be four, he said. That way should one get hurt, a person can stay with the injured party while two people go for help.

Guthrie Cave, incidentally, will be closed for an undetermined period of time while park officials clean the cave and prepare it for future visitors.

Safety is not something Schropp and other members of the Little Egypt Grotto take for granted.

The group keeps the locations secret so people do not hurt themselves or the cave. Members takes pride in keeping the locations of the caves a club secret.

Just a few miles across the state line in Perry County, Missouri, there are more than 650 known caves.

These caves are large systems that can be enjoyed by many people, but Swedlund said that to get to them, the best way is go through the Little Egyptian Grotto.

He said the group can show beginners the unique qualities of caving.

Every cave has it own personality, he said. A cave is a very special place. It is amazing to walk through walls of rock. It is really magic.

For more information about Little Egypt Grotto, contact Geoff Schropp at 453-1285.