CompuServe Messages

Hi, Victor– Drawing marks on cave walls is gauche; so what is the best way to make your path findable? A huge roll of string on a stick? A pocket full of objects one can leave behind and pick up again as one is returning (if one leaves by a different path, they would remain as litter, but at least they are not as hard to remove later as markings)? A camcorder with playback viewer? Taking notes as to landmarks seems to unreliable unless there is some sort of systematic way to distinguish those which are otherwise too similar or ambiguous. It might be too expensive, but a bundle of those chemiluminescent glow sticks could serve as both emergency light source and excellent markers. Different colors could distinguish side excursions from the path of fastest exit in emergency. This is the first I have heard that "spelunker" is out of favor. What about professional speleologists? Do they like to be called "cavers" also? Outside a cave, "caving" seems a good term, but inside a cave, I might prefer to call it "spelunking", as the other is a little too close to "caving in" for comfort. 🙂 This reminds me of the discussion in this forum about some liking or disliking the term "rockhound". At least "caver" covers the same territory as "spelunker" (as far as I know), but I know no other simple term that obviously includes all the people who might be called rockhounds (and if there were, likely some would dislike it, also). –Doug