re: As far as worst ways to go..getting stuck in a cave has to be up there

Reminds me of this Louis CK bit.
I hate watching YouTube vids but this is well worth then4 min
LINK

That is Cumberland Caverns in McMinnville. The guy was Aaron Higginbotham. He was the original discoverer of the cave. He decided to go in one day by himself to explore a new passage he had found. He left his mule at the cave entrance as well as his pack. He went in with his pine torch and went into the new passage. He got to a place where he had to climb almost vertical about 30 feet and as he neared the top, he dropped his torch. He could not see but knew before he dropped the torch that he was only a couple feet to the top. He could not go back down because in the darkness he could not see where to put his feet and hands. He got to the top and sat there for 3 days in the dark. Later said that after a few hours he was in sheer terror and his mind was hearing all sorts of things. He was rescued because local minors heard his mule(which was tied to a tree) going bonkers from hunger and anxiety. They saw the mule and his pack and knew someone was in trouble in the cave. When they found him, he was curled up in a ball against a rock wall. Said he looked like a wild animal and yes, his hair had turned white from stress and terror.

Donald Ball died from falling into Ball's Pit in the 50s. He was rescued but died in the hospital 3 days later.

I did the overnight stay there with my 9 year old son and some of his friends 3 weeks ago. We did the a Wild Tour and it was pure hell for me. About 2 hours of crawling for 30-50 ft of 13"-18" clearance in many spots. That was with a guide and with headlamps. Kept thinking how crazy the first explorers were who did that with torches. I was probably the oldest guy in our group tour of 25 and I was in no shape to be doing that having suffered permanent leg damage from cancer. You need every muscle group in your body functioning at good to peak performance to do that. Working with one leg strength at 50% had me praying half way through just to make it out. Great experience though if your body is in shape and you are not claustrophobic.