Mike, who is actually Chris's brother, was an active member of OAR long before I joined. However, the entire time I had been active up until this point, he had been in Patagonia, Chile. So, I had never known him in the context of UF or OAR, but rather in the context of being Christopher's older brother. Even though it was summer and I was in Jacksonville instead of Gainesville, I decided that I would go. I felt the need for a crazy OAR activity and I had missed going to meetings. I drove down and Mike taught a small group of us how to use vertical gear. I had actually been to vertical practice in early November of 2011. However, vertical trips were rare and I barely remembered what all the gear was called, much less how it worked. I picked it up somewhat easily and performed several changeovers in the course of an hour. At the meeting, Mike announced that he was going to lead a vertical caving trip that weekend. I thought at the time that while it sounded cool, I probably wouldn't go because I had just learned what I was doing and wasn't ready yet. However, as I was driving back to Jacksonville, I thought about how few vertical trips there had been since I joined the club (none) and decided that now was better than never. I emailed Mike that I wanted to go and next thing I knew, I had signed up for my first vertical caving trip. 
Since I was leaving from Jacksonville and Chris decided that he wanted to go as well, we carpooled down to Gainesville to pick up Mike. It ended up being just the three of us driving up from Gainesville. We met up with a past OAR member, Cat, who lived in Atlanta. She let us stay at her place Friday night so we didn't have to pay for camping. Then, she and her boyfriend, Alex, drove us to a random gas station and fireworks store outside of Chattanooga. I didn't know what to think. The only caves I had been to at this point were in people's backyards. This one was on the other side of some railroad tracks from Big Daddy's Fireworks. A fireworks store that sells beer and gas seemed like a bad combination to me, but I guess I was the only one with reservations. We hiked up a little ways to a pit in the ground, called Signal Light. It looked like nothing to me. Mike started rigging up gear and my nerves took a turn for the worse. I was pleased that he sent Chris down first, since Chris had more experience than me. 
As I stood over the edge, I felt my grip on the rope tighten. Mike asked me if I was afraid of heights, to which I honestly replied "yes." I think he could tell that I was shaking and nervous, even though this was just another rappel. Once I got over the edge and felt my weight on the rope, I became much more comfortable. I slid down with ease, but I burned my hand on the rope. The rappel device used for vertical caving allowed me to go as quickly or slowly as I wanted but all the friction on the rope caused it to heat up a lot. When I reached the bottom, I looked up and yelled "off rope!", gazing in awe at the Texas-shaped hole I had just rappelled through. Once Mike got down, we started exploring.
To this day, Signal Light is still my favorite cave. There is a large formation room with a lot of giant stalactites and stalagmites as well as cool folds in the wall. Also, there is a room covered in names and dates, stretching back to the 1860's when Civil War deserters would hide out in caves. We also came upon a large mountain of mud, which we named "Sketch Mountain." In retrospect, especially since returning to Signal Light, I cannot believe I let those two talk me into climbing it. The mountain was coated in thick, slippery mud but this was not the scariest part. No, the most frightening aspect of Sketch Mountain was at the bottom: if you fall or want to get down, there is a small platform to land on with pits on either side. Seems safe, right? I was fine going up Sketch Mountain but going down was a different story. When we got to the top, we explored some and found another drop. Mike set up a rope and decided to explore but found nothing and came back up quickly. Headed down Sketch Mountain, Mike set up a piece of webbing for me to hold on to. I lowered myself with some ease but Chris had to coax me at the end. The two pits and the platform to land on were out of my sight and I didn't trust myself not to fall. I eventually made it all the way down but it took a lot of convincing from both brothers and my own brain. 
Ascending out of Signal Light took Mike virtually no time. When it was my turn, however, it took upwards of 20 minutes. I later discovered that my foot loop had been too short so I couldn't get full height. Still, I felt guilty about taking so long and apologized as I finally reached the top of the 90 foot drop. Coated in mud, we waited in the parking lot for Cat. She and Alex had gone white water rafting but they planned on joining us for dinner, camping, and caving the next day. We went to South Pittsburgh, Tennessee the next morning for more caving. However, we had a limited amount of time and a limited amount of gear. I knew that I would hold everyone back, so I chose to stay at the top instead. I ended up taking a long nap in the sun and they were only in the cave for a few hours, rather than all day. I regret this now, especially after having seen pictures, but I'll return one day when I have more time. Something about vertical caving has made it my favorite OAR activity. I'm not sure if it's the rappelling aspect, the danger, or the small group size (which I always prefer), but it's most likely a combination of the three. Events occurred: May 31-June 3, 2012
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