Climbing to the Last Chamber

This is the ladder from the main room in the cave (where most of the artifacts and remains are located) to the the last small chamber where the Crystal Maiden rests.  This ladder is in fact a typical Home Depot type extension ladder, tied in place with a small piece of rope.  Safety precautions in the cave mostly take the form of 'be careful and use common sense'.  There are no guard rails, safety ropes or anything else attached to the cave.  

Also note the socks I am wearing.  After leaving the wet portion of the cave, everyone is absolutely required to wear only socks.  No shoes, no bare feet.  Part of the reason is safety (socks grip well), but the main reason is to protect the cave.  Socks on bare feet are soft and minimize wear on the cave, and also prevent contamination from oil on peoples' feet.   We had to stop on the way to buy socks because we didn't know before leaving the States that we would need them for this.

Cath - We were all a little nervous before taking this trip because we did not know what exactly to expect inside the cave.  I was seriously worried that I would have to climb something ridiculous, or climb up something and not be able to climb down, or perhaps panic because I was going to have to watch the kids climb something scary.  Any mothers reading this post will totally understand the high anxiety produced by watching your kids perform some physically risky or dangerous activity.  But for me, this ladder was the worst part of the whole thing.  At least the rocks and boulders didn't move when I climbed over.