Burial Pt. 3

On my return through the squeeze I began to hear a low rumble that seemed to come from far away. I did not think much of it. Finally I got through the squeeze for the second time. That passage made everything else on the way out seem easy in my mind and re-surfacing seemed only an easy trip away.

As I gathered my belongings to return through this side passage to the main hall the low rumble I heard earlier shifted into a sound that paralyzed my mind with fear. The claustrophobia of the squeeze and the fear of losing my way were nothing compared to this. The sound of water beginning to fill the tunnel I was crouched in.

While I had been underground the storm outside had continued to rage. The cave had been so dry I never considered the possibility that it could flood, but a record rainfall had turned these tunnels into an overflow for a nearby river. Where the ground had been dry, now within seconds, water poured around my feet, turning from a trickle into a swift ankle deep flow that grew while I watched.

Now there was no time for fear. No time to consider the wisest course of action. I grabbed my sack of equipment and began a hunched scramble out towards the main tunnel. As I entered the main hall of the cave, water continued to flow around me. The low rumble I ignored only moments ago had now become a roar as water poured in from around me.

Like the mythical moment of enlightenment, my mind was entirely devoid of thought and feeling as I left that place. Only an intense will to survive pulled me free from those dark flows, into the sunlight now emerging from the clouds, in a sky I almost had forgotten in my time underground.

-2016-
bayou goula towhead

-2015-
the sea test

-2014-
the circumnavigator pt5
the circumnavigator pt4
the circumnavigator pt3
the circumnavigator pt2
the circumnavigator pt1
falling dream
the darkness
one hell of a mile 3&4
he will return
the believers
the horror pt2
the horror pt1
traces
death valley
whiteout

-2013-
paradise of outlaws
the mountain climbers 1&2
brought to surface
one hell of a mile 3
primordial
the lost world
inner gorge
a ghost story
the riddle
slaying the minotaur
heart of darkness
bayou
public lands
organ music
two sought adventure
the virgin river
the road north
preparations

-2012-
steal the world
the end of the world
el dorado
the valley of the kings 2
the valley of the kings 1
one hell of a mile 2
one hell of a mile 1
the mountain climbers rr4
heroes rr3
rainy roadtrip 2
rainy roadtrip 1
the transgression
sandstorm
sinister 2
sinister 1
dehydrated
anatomy
sleepwalking
new chapter

-2011-
like sedona?
torn in two
blink
bridge to nowhere
the door
hitting the wall
elusive 2
elusive 1
harquahala
hole
pick up lines

-2010-
revisited 2
revisited 1
which way?
lost mines
chute
monolith
freeze
slice
in their footsteps
a dance with death

-2009-
goodbyes
undercurrents
casting the bones
mountain thief
the deer hunter
strange temple
sanctuary
burial pt. 3
burial pt. 2
burial pt. 1
the apparition
return to hell
forsaken
the lower depths
underground lake
stretch sewer
the hidden lab
shadow movements
meager rations
sw8: the conclusion
sw7: lost gold mines
sw6: the big tubes
sw5: gold!
sw4: el calderon
sw3: redondo
sw2: ghosts
sw1: westward bound
leviathan
formaldehyde dreams
the underdark
in the beginning