- The age of exploration, it's not over.

We don't have to go to outer space or the bottom of the ocean.

We're doing that right here in the caves of Indiana.

My name's Scott Frosch.

I am a member of Central Indiana Grotto.

Central Indiana Grotto is a group of cavers that like to go caving.

We do recreational trips, project caving, sometimes conservation oriented, sometimes actual honest mapping and exploration, pushing the frontier.

And that still is happening under our feet here in Indiana, where we have unexplored places that nobody's ever gone.

- [Narrator] Scott has volunteered with the Central Indiana Grotto for years as a trip coordinator, leading groups deeper into the earth beneath Indiana surface inside of privately-owned caves.

- [Scott] We're in southern Indiana near Spring Mill State Park, and this is sort of the heart of cars country in Indiana.

The sinkhole plain begins here.

This is a private cave.

Many thanks to the landowner for allowing us to play in his backyard.

This cave has been known for hundreds of years since Indiana settlers have been here.

They would use the water from the springs for mills and for distilleries, and little communities sprang up around each one.

There's no soil accumulation to hide the past.

So like what you do in a cave to a cave kind of lingers and stays a long time.

- [Narrator] Inside the cave, Scott and the other cavers showed us around as if it were their own home.

- [Scott] This is they call a joint control cave, the joint being this crack.

And so the entire cave formation is based off these cracks in the rock.

So the water coming down, this is a weak spot and water going on.

This was just a crack.

They got bigger.

When limestone cracks, it breaks into all these beautiful little square shapes.

And so this goes like (Scott imitates squeaking) Beautiful corners.

- [Caver] Okay, so these guys are the beginnings of rimstone dams.

Basically what happens is carbon dioxide from the air mixed make carbonic acid and they start to make these little holes, right?

The carbonic acid dissolves the limestone.

So these are calcium-rich little ponds.

And when they overflow, water splashes over the side, it makes these little side pools and it starts to make like a staircase type thing.

- [Narrator] And like any good home tour, we got to peek inside the pantry.

- [Scott] Cavers tend to be hungry, so a lot of our formations are named after food.

We have cave bacon and cave popcorn, and... - [Narrator] Although not everything on the menu is appetizing, - All those squiggles on there, the proper name is vermulations 'cause they look like worms, but they don't have anything to do with worms.

Cave animals that you might see are, we have cave crickets and cave spiders, and we should have some great big juicy spiders near the entrance.

Those crickets and spiders like to live in the twilight so that they can get some of that energy.

Salamanders, if we're lucky, we'll find a salamander.

Cave salamanders are orange with black spots, and they're really pretty cool.

And they like the rocky areas around caves and springs.

- [Narrator] This cave is just one part of the caving convention that the Grotto puts on every year, called Cave Capers.

- [Scott] Cave Capers is a annual gathering of caver here in southern Indiana.

The location rotates from year to year.

They'll offer music and food, camping.

Volunteers will lead cave trips.

It's sort of like a mini caving convention.

It's a great chance for cavers to come together and experience that community that makes caving special.

There's volunteer-lead trips from easy beginner trips, people on ropes, repelling hundreds of feet into the ground in waterfalls, and we'll offer everything in between.

There's probably gonna be 30 or 40 different lead trips over the weekend.

- [Narrator] So what fuels the desire for these cavers to go beneath the surface?

- I think having a sense of wonder and excitement is really important.

And a lot of times, it's hard for adults to feel excitement and wonder and joy.

And I'm telling you, in a cave, it's not that hard, right?

So you go around the corner and you see something cool and everybody's like, "Oh, wow!"

And you feel it too.

And it's just awesome.

As a grownup, you get to be a kid, you get to play in the mud and water and climb over rocks, and you get to crawl around and you know, it is just a blast.

You hop in the hole and it's like a whole different world down there.

And as soon as you break the portal there and you go in the cave, you know the things that are important to you, they all change because all of a sudden it becomes very primal.

You know, your goal is survival.

Your goal is escape.

It forces you to live in the moment.

And that way it's really cool.

- [Narrator] Wants to go caving yourself?

Scott has some advice for getting started.

- So if you want to know where caves are and how to go caving, look up your local grotto.

Find somebody near you, they'll get you caving.

Really a great place to get started with that.

Caves are awesome.

Woo!

- [Narrator] For more across Indiana stories, go to wfyi.org/acrossindiana.

(country music)