Scrambling up the side of a mountain, over waist-high deadfall and slippery rock isn’t exactly where you find most teenagers on a Saturday morning at 7 a.m.
But it’s a pretty average day for the Bigfork High School Cave Club.
The group calls “Hoot-y hoo!” back and forth to make sure everyone’s generally going in the same direction. A steep bushwhacking trek is just the start of their day. The final destination is an old mining shaft that leads into a cave.
The teenagers are led by Hans Bodenhamer, or 'Mr. B' to his students.
He’s explored and mapped caves for most of his life, and started bringing students along more than 25 years ago. He’s run the Cave Club for decades, and has taken more than 400 students into caves across Montana. This trip has 10 students. Most of them joined the club as freshmen, like Maddie Pomeroy.
"Mr. B gave a presentation about all the different formations. And because I was interested in his earth science class, he asked if I'd like to go explore an easier cave with him," Pomeroy says."
Caves are delicate ecosystems, often closed off from the surface world. Unique crystal and mineral deposits found in caves can take thousands of years to form, but damaging them forever takes only a few seconds.
"So, in Montana, there's probably four or five hundred caves," Bodenhamer says. "A lot of the caves were discovered by miners in the 1870s, early 1900s, and the miners weren't too excited about preserving the floor surfaces, but some of the others that have been discovered more recently have these incredible features in really good conditions."
The Cave Club has collaborated with federal agencies across the state to document and preserve caves. They’ve also discovered previously unknown caves housing threatened colonies of bats.
Bodenhamer mapped this cave for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over a decade ago, and recommended creating a path to minimize human damage if the agency wants to open the cave to public access one day.
Today’s mission is permanently marking off the path with cable fences strung between stakes.
BLM geologist Tim Wojtaszek says this collaboration is unique, and a huge help.
"They have a lot more knowledge on the cave systems in the area to be able to help us preserve them. And this whole project is theirs to be able to help us keep them safe and keep them preserved, so everybody can have a view at them."
This cave was only discovered by miners accidentally digging into it nearly a century ago.
The group navigates around an abandoned mining cart, walking down the old tunnel as the daylight from the entrance becomes a narrow pinprick.
It’s a climb up an old ladder into the first room, a large chamber where Bodenhamer points to signs of previous human disturbances.
"You can see all the divots in the mud there, and then all the formations are almost all smeared with mud," he says. "This is just the nature of this cave, It’s so muddy it’s hard for people not to impact it going through," he says.
Brick-colored mud coats the surfaces of crystals and stalagmites across the cave’s floor. It’s thick, like walking through creamy peanut butter.
As the day goes on, pathways begin to take shape. Staked lines of cables marked with reflective tape snake above the cave’s floor. Bodenhamer beams looking at the path’s progress.
"Look at how pretty! Like fairy lights," he says.
Bodenhamer is the backbone of this club. He meanders between groups of students, stopping to help one untangle a line of cable, and brainstorming with another on where to drill for the next stake.
From the main cavern on to the next is a tight squeeze, it requires an army crawl through a narrow crevice that then opens into another larger chamber.
Sparkling white clusters shimmer on the ceiling, and branching formations like coral scatter across the floor.
Student Hazel Lowell explains those clusters are called cave popcorn. She’s documented formations like these on other cave trips.
"It's just really cool to be in this type of world, you know what I mean?' Lowell says. "And the people, even though they can really be a pain sometimes, I wouldn't trade them for nothing. I love all of them so much."
That love is apparent in the students’ shared excitement and their willingness to work hard.
This cave is easy, compared to other trips they’ve taken recently. Lowell says they’ve had to rappel into other caves. Here, they walk back to the surface for lunch or a bathroom break.
This trip is also extra special because it’s the club’s last trip all together. Mr. B is retiring this year. Otto Shurke, another student, says it’s hard to imagine his absence. He calls out to Bodenhamer while working.
"Love you, Mr. B."
"Love you back," Bodenhamer replies.
Bodenhamer says he hopes to get out on some cave trips in the future with current and past cave club members.
"If we can take care of some incredibly fragile caves, there's hope."
And he says he still plans on mapping more caves in his retirement.
