It’s quiet. And dark. The only sound is a distant dripping and the only thing I feel is a soft wind against my cheek. The world stands still until our guide starts speaking.
We are in the so called Sandbädden (The Sand Bed), the first cave chamber included in the Korallgrottan cave tour, where we try turning off the lights to experience complete darkness. When we turn on the lights we see the rolling waves of the facettes again, formed in the rock by thousands of years of flowing water.
Although the Korallgrottan cave is the longest in Sweden it was only recently explored. It was discovered as late as 1985, when a local hiking guide showed a group of speleologists (cave explorers or ”spelunkers”) the area that had similar flora and morphology as the famous Bjurälven cave area. Only a few years later the cave had not only been found and explored, but also established as the longest cave in Sweden.
It is easy to imagine the thrill of discovering a completely new cave. The Korallgrottan is not prepared for visitors in the way most tourist attractions are. The cave is completely unaltered, with only a rope helping you find your way through the main tunnel. To crawl through cave tunnels and climbing dry waterfalls gave me the feeling of being the very first person exploring this cave. My excitement only grew and culminated when we are allowed to explore the ”Sand Palace” (Sandpalatset) all by ourselves and the bravest of us got to try a really tight squeeze.
The Korallgrottan is located in the mountains of northern Jämtland, four kilometers from the nearest road access, which means that a visit is a full day adventure. The day offered both a beautiful eight kilometer hiking tour to and from the cave as well as two hours of caving. Our tour guides prepared a Swedish ”fika” buffet with lots of local products and a lunch made from wild moose meat prepared over an open fire. Our small group (all tours take a maximum of twelve participants) became good friends even before we put on the caving equipment.
When the two hours of caving started to run out we found ourselves on top of cold thick ice even though it was mid July. I heard a faint roaring of a waterfall ahead, and just minutes later we stepped out of an opening into bright daylight. The rays of sunlight were interrupted by the water falling from a cliff some ten meters up. After rinsing the dust off our coveralls in the waterfall we moved up towards the sun, the open fire and the lunch that we really looked forward to after our cave tour. With my newly reawokened thrill of discovery and all my new knowledge I felt satisfied with this dose of ”speleology” and mountain hiking. But only until next time, of course!
Are you unsure about whether or not you would dare to go into the cave or afraid of getting stuck? Or the opposite: do you think the caving is going to be too easy for you? Rest assured, the cave tunnels are big and stable, but if you want more excitement the guides can easily send you down a narrow path where your skills will be tested!
The best thing is that it is possible to split the group and join either of the two groups just beyond the squeeze part of the cave. Simply put: it is an adventure for (almost) all travellers!
