I went in a 1/2 mile l long cave (lava tube) today which gave me a good excuse to really use the lights.
The light I used the most was the H51f (headlamp) on medium. I had a TI around my neck as a third light (not turned on).
The backup light was a UF T-50 which I used when I wanted to illuminate larger areas of the cave.
It’s interesting in that the cave really “eats” up the light. Even on high the H51f still required that I move slowly and watch the terrain carefully.
The UF-T50 which lights up my backyard on high was just adequate for lighting up larger areas of the cave but it still wasn’t excessive by any means.
I would have taken a few extra batteries if I was going to do this on a regular basis. All together however it was a pretty light weight combination with plenty of redundancy.
The cool thing is there are two sections (upper caves and lower caves) so the entrance is in the middle. To go in the lower caves it’s 3/4 mile round trip. It’s almost like walking down a dirt trail.
The upper cave however is one way (1/2 mile) and you can crawl out though a hole in the ceiling at the end. It also has 27 restrictions (fallen rock) to get around along the way. So, the upper cave is much more interesting and more of an “adventure”.
It is completely dark. We turned off the lights once just for the fun of it. It is the definition of dark I’ve done the same thing at night on deep dives and it’s the same.
It’s not dangerous. It’s not really difficult although some people turn back rather than making it all the way through due to the many restrictions. It’s just “difficult” enough to make it seem like a little “adventure”.
I’ve done the same thing at night on deep dives and it’s the same.