Salamanders in a cave!
Thursday, January 28, 2010 at 4:08PM 
FBRA entered the spelunking realm by spending last night deep in Worley's Cave just outside of Bluff City, Tennessee. In addition to learning about cave formations, bats, white-nosed syndrome, and geology, the objective of the trip was primarily to prepare students and staff for their upcoming international field-experience in Costa Rica. "The success of the trip largely depends on the preparation work we do with the students beforehand," according to Will Yeiser, director and co-founder of the French Broad River Academy. "While the caving experience provided many unique learning opportunities and adventures, the last thirty hours were really about building confidence, overcoming fears, communicating effectively, and working together as a team."
The constant temperature of fifty-five degrees also made for a pleasant escape from the winter cold outside the cave. Students and staff explored different passages and routes under the guidance of Shawn Robins, a parent of a student as well as an expert cave guide. "There is no way we could have done this without Shawn...his leadership, guidance, instruction, and assistance with preparations for the trip were invaluable!" said David Byers, lead instructor and co-founder. Visit the gallery for more photos!
Reader Comments (10)
I remember that part. It was fun!!!
My best part of the trip was wading through the river on our expo near base camp. I also liked getting out. When we saw the sky we were so energized! The expo on the way out was cool because it just kept going for like, 1 mile! Sam fell down the 10 foot hole. We had to slide sideways or we would have fallen about 20 feet down an embankment.
yeah man!!!
My best moment from the trip was exploring all over the cave. For example crawling through tiny passages was awesome because it was like a whole new world. There were stalactites and stalagmites everywhere.
Although I just about couldn't sleep at all, the trip was overall very fun and exciting. My favorite part was exploring like when we waded through the river or went down the miniature cliff at Base Camp. I also liked finding little crevices at Base Camp that opened out into a bigger room. I found one by the cliff where we would climb down to get out of the cave. They now call it the Yeiser cave, which doesn't make sense.
Me favorite thing about caving was having to hike through creeks and up big hills to get to where we were going. For example, we had to help each other across the creek and use a rope to get up a big hill to get to the camp ground.
The best part of the caving trip in my opinion was when we slide through that crack (In the video). Because we went really far in and found a room and another passage way to the main trail. The ceiling was right in front of our faces but we squeezed through anyway.
The worst part was having to sleep and wake up. Mr. Robins' pasta was the bomb!!! Can you get the recipe for me, Harper?
We should have played hide-n-go-seek or bombardment or tag!
Overall, it was fun!