ESSO Grotto, KY

By Colleen Kennedy

Good thing I’m not afraid of spiders is my first thought as I push my helmet-clad head through the web. Shouldn’t have worn a backpack is my second. I emerge from the tight space and rejoin my guides. Not more than a few minutes later I am being sent through a separate tunnel again. “We just want to make sure you get the full experience,” says Brian Saul, vice president of ESSO Grotto, and my trip’s tour guide.

ESSO (Eastern State Speleological Organization) Grotto (caving club) is one of the more active caving organizations in our region, with approximately 60 active members with varying degrees of involvement. They meet and are based out of Carter County, KY, the perfect place for a grotto because of the county’s 300-plus caves, but they have members as far flung as Iowa.

As intimidating as it can be to join a new group, it’s nice to know that there’s no hazing (nothing worse than what I’ve experienced today, anyway) or heavy dues with ESSO. You don’t even have to be a member to tag along on trips, though it’s encouraged. Once you decide to drop the $15 annual member fee, which goes primarily to funding ESSO’s newsletter, you decide how involved you’d like to be. Go on one trip or go on a thousand, it’s entirely up to you.

This group does more than just cave, though. ESSO offers a wide variety of specialized activities. Take Brian, who joined to learn vertical (rope) skills and now heads up vertical workshops for ESSO. Vertical is one of many activities that ESSO members can participate in, including the club’s rope at Bridge Day at the New River Gorge, WV, where members can rappel off of the nearly 900-foot bridge. Restoration projects, bridge walking, slack lining, GPS training, surveying and mapping, photography and rope work are all subcategories within the club.

Joining can be as easy as walking into a cave, like head of land owner relations and member Mark Walker did several years ago. Mark’s family owns all three entrances to Tar Kiln, the cave we’re exploring today, so he has been caving, literally, his entire life. It doesn’t take me long to realize why these cavers love this sport so much: the excitement of crawling and squeezing your way through utter darkness without a clue as to what lies around the corner, alongside a few friends and covered in lots of mud. Does it get any better? The highlight of today’s trip, without a doubt, is our ascent and eventual exit out of the waterfall pit, an ESSO first.

If you aren’t won over yet, Brian says that the best reason to join the club is quite simply because they know where all the caves are. Joining a grotto also gives you the opportunity to gain new and develop old skills, get some exercise and make tons of new friends. “If you like this stuff, it’s hard to find somebody at the office that’s interesting in going with you,” says Brian. “ESSO is like-minded people doing things that you like to do.” Check them out at www.essogrotto.com, tag along on a trip and you just might find your new favorite hobby.