Read a post online a few weeks ago about a system of goblin caves just outside of town, figured I'd head out on my own and try to find it Sunday morning. Didn't take long to find the main cave, which is big enough to fit the entire crew and a fire pit. From there on I basically followed the edge of the mountain keeping an eye out for openings, they were everywhere, about half of them large enough to crawl into. It was bizarre, the mountain is basically swiss cheese on the inside, about 15 feet into a cave it would transition from a tunnel barely large enough to squeeze through into a small room large enough to stand up in, usually with 3 or 4 other new tunnels branching out of the walls. Most of the cave floors were dry, no insects, no stink, the ceilings were all made of damp limestone that almost felt squishy. Kind of surprised it didn't spook me more than it did, no cell service, none of the homies know where these caves are yet, no first aid kit on me, and some of these tunnels went straight down dozens of feet into complete darkness.
The guy who wrote the post about this place jokingly warned of a marked cave called the "Hall of Arachnids". But the post was written in 2007 or something, when I got there yesterday the place had pretty much been abandoned, it is no longer maintained, no signs, trail markings, or signs of regular human activity at all besides some old log bridges and staircases that have clearly passed their prime. I had forgotten about this warning entirely, especially since there were no signs anywhere to jot my memory.
One of the cave entrances was a nearly vertical 3x3 ft. tunnel starting right where the mountain met the river's edge, leading up into blackness. Somebody had strung a large red rope with climbing knots up at the top of the tunnel hanging down to the entrance, it felt sturdy enough, so I started climbing. About 12 feet up the tunnel leveled off into a horizontal crawl, I started shimmying through on my belly, around an S bend, and onward, stopping when I noticed the massive undisturbed cobweb draped across the entire tunnel. I immediately remembered the post and knew where I was.
I look up, the ceiling is moving, I look to my side, the walls are moving.
Daddy longlegs, everywhere, probably a hundred, each one separated by maybe a few inches. I didn't even make a sound, just tensed the **** up and started shimmying my ass backwards, still on my stomach, wondering how many spiders I was smearing into the dirt with my belly. This cave was tight too, I wasn't feeling claustrophobic until that moment, sweating up a storm knowing that it wasn't going to be easy climbing down that tunnel, especially with my new knowledge of the living wallpaper. Made it out, shivered, and continued on to check out the rest of the caves. ****ing terrifying.
MORE PICTURES: