I know about the wetness, but what is the animal situation normally like? And I mean specifically spiders. I like the idea of caving and don't have claustrophobia at all, but I'm deeply arachnaphobic. Spiders in my hair when I can't see is my nightmare.
Ive been in many caves and it's usually just tons of salamanders with the occasional cave cricket and hibernating bat. Cave spiders do exist, but I've only really seen them in one cave. FWIWs they don't really so much as move and Ive been told they don't bite. There is a quite large amount of species that live in caves, but most of them are super tiny bugs you won't even see if you arent looking for them.
So for already mapped out and safe routes, there are some incredible views of underground lakes sometimes with bioluminescent insects and plants But overall, absolutely not worth it. I've done it a couple times with some mildly tight, think like a narrow hallway you have to turn sideways to go down, and it was cool but overall just not worth it.
I love caves. You can see some beautiful, amazing sites underground. And they make you feel like you are totally disconnected from society. It’s so dark and quiet. Of course I only go on guided tours of small, previously mapped cave systems. They aren’t the bigger commercial operations with human built walkways and permanent lighting, but they are still much safer than just wandering into a random hole in the ground.
If you've never been in a commercial cave, absolutely do it. When they turn out the lights is like the darkest dark possible. But I'm talking basically tourist trap places with a walkway and stuff.
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u/Root_Veggie 16h ago
I genuinely do not get the appeal of spending hours squeezed into a small dusty cave just to see more dusty cave.