My son and I had scouted out this series of tunnels before I even started geocaching two years ago and I had thought about doing it for a while as a cache but just never did. For one thing I knew there was another cache somewhat close by but I didn't know where and I wasn't sure if this would be too close. But lately I've been seeing all these new caches published in Maryland and not nearly as many around here and I figured we could use some more. I did a phone a friend to get some intel on that cache so I'm pretty sure that this should be OK but I did have to place it pretty far into the tunnels to get it at the correct distance. So don't blame me for the length of it. After my pre-caching expedition two years ago I did another check on it a little over a year ago but that was while riding on my mountain board which made it much easier. Today I figured I should give it a more realistic trial and do it on hands and feet with a little bit of knees in there too. Yeah that was much more difficult than riding on wheels. But then again I don't think skateboards are gonna work that well in the few spots where there's rocks and things kind of permanently attached to the bottom of the tunnel. A skateboard still might be helpful to take along. And definitely some kneepads and gloves. I didn't check all tunnels that you go through but the first tunnel is 42 inches diameter and the second is 36 inches and I'm assuming anything else is about the same as the second. (Unless you go too far) I also went past GZ and I think you can theoretically come in from that direction which might even be a shorter distance but it's even smaller tunnels and even rockier and I definitely would not advise that. As far as distance goes I think it's almost exactly a 10th of a mile through the tunnels although that's as the crow flies so it may be a little bit more than that since it's not a straight shot there. In general I think I'm in pretty good shape and I'm also willing to put myself through a bunch of pain or effort so I'm sure not all others would be as into this is me. Just a warning. I did end up with a big fat blister that ripped on my palm and I can't see it but I'm pretty sure I scratched up my back some. So basically have fun!!!
The name came from the movie that I watched with my wife and kids last night about the 13 soccer kids and their coach who got rescued out of the water filled cave in Thailand a few years back. I could have gone with the "IT" theme since we're also in the middle of watching that which is not a great movie to be watching before you go crawling through tunnels by yourself. But alas there's already a hide with that theme close by of which I think I am the last finder a year and a half ago. This is not really anything that approaches the difficulty and scariness of the rescue movie and I have a feeling it is dry most of the time. We had torrential rains two nights ago and it was virtually dry today but definitely and I put this in bold do not do this if there's any chance of rain or has been rain recently. It's a long set of tunnels and you could be in there for a while so use the utmost caution and do this at your own risk.
OK so now how do you get to this cache? Well it's a mystery cache so you have to solve this mystery - How many caches have I published before this one including archived caches? We will call that number X. I've given a parking waypoint and the posted coordinates are for the start of the tunnel. Once you start going through the tunnels you will come to certain points where there's an opening with bars above you and you can actually see sky up above and some various plants as well. When you get to opening number X look for the container there. The container should be pretty easy to find. After all, the work was getting there not looking for the container.
Good luck to all and for an uplifting movie go watch Thirteen Lives.
Congrats to Minnestrone all the way
from Florida for the FTF!!!!!!