Underground fun

Stephanie Ezra started going underground into “wild” caves when she was 10. 

Living in St. Louis, she’s certainly in the right spot. Missouri has over 5,500 underground caves. And there are plenty of local groups that sponsor caving expeditions. 

In St. Louis, there are three major groups. They’re called “grottos.” They are the Meramec Valley Grotto, the Middle Mississippi Valley Grotto and the Stygian Grotto.

The members range in age from adults to youth.

Ezra now is 15 and a sophomore at Parkway South High School. She belongs to Venture Crew 9747. This branch of the scouting has been sponsored for 17 years by the Monsanto Co. 

Michael Roos is the group’s adult leader. He is a research pilot plant manager at Monsanto. 

He’s also a member of the Middle Mississippi Valley Grotto, which controls access to the second largest cave in Missouri. The Berom Moore Cave is near Perryville, Mo. That’s about 90 miles south of St. Louis. 

The Grotto sponsors caving expeditions to the Berom cave about once a month. 

The cave has over 20 miles of underground passageways. There is a base camp established about 2,000 feet into the cave. Electric lighting has been extended to the base camp. 

From that base camp, the expeditions can then branch out in all directions for exploration. At night, the cavers can return to the base camp of sleeping. 

Roos said the Berom cave has multiple levels. That means exploration can go on despite the weather. When the surface weather is dry, the cavers can explore the lower levels of the huge cave. 

But, when the weather is rainy, it’s important to stay away from the lower levels. The water runoff from the surface drains down into the cave. This can flood out those areas.

The rainwater seeping through the underground rock is what carved out the caves in the first place. 

On rainy days, cavers explore the upper levels of the cave.

Roos said safety is a big consideration in caving. He said the cavers need hard-hats, multiple sources of light (it’s dark down there) and always should be with experienced cavers. 

He mentioned an incident near St. Louis a few years ago. Several kids were drowned when rainwater flooded a cave. “An experienced caver never would have been in the cave on a day like that,” Roos said. 

Ezra said she’s been on overnight trips in Berom cave twice. 

Asked what she likes best about caving, she said, “I like the mud. It’s fun to get dirty and to get other people dirty.” 

She said it used to take her up to two hours to get herself and her equipment clean after a trip to a “wild” cave. “But, now I’ve got it down to 30 minutes,” she said. 

Besides playing in the mud, Ezra and her fellow cavers get to see some unusual sights. 

For instance, the Berom cave is entered by a tiny opening at the surface. But, once inside, the cave opens up to a series of large rooms. There are also narrow passageways that lead into more rooms with vaulted ceilings. 

Roos again mentioned safety when in “wild” caves. He defined a “wild” cave as one that hasn’t been developed for tourists. Roos said, “In Berom Cave you can get seriously lost if you aren’t with experienced cavers.” 

But, the opportunity to see such unusual places is fascinating. “You can be in places where maybe no one else has ever been,” Roos said.

St. Louis youngsters can get a taste of caving by visiting a “tame” commercially developed cave such as Meramec Caverns. Those caves are located south of St. Louis. That system provides guided tours through lighted caverns which also have well-established paths.

Then, if you want to try something a little more daring, you can contact one of the “grotto” organizations in St. Louis. 

Jerry DeBrock of St. Charles belongs to the same “grotto” as does Michael Roos. Last month, DeBrock took 18 young people from his youth group at  St. Peter’s Assembly of God Church to Berom Cave. 

The young people ranged in age from 10 to 18. DeBrock said some of the older kids had gone with him to the cave several years ago. “They’d been bugging me ever since to go again,” he said. 

The group was in the cave for seven hours and managed to travel about two miles into the cave and then two miles back. “The kids thought that was an unforgettable experience,” he said.