The Mines & Meadows ATV/RV Resort - Underground ATV Adventure!

When we first arrived to the front entrance of the resort, the first thing I laid eyes on was the huge black and green Kawasaki/Monster Energy rig with a mix of brand-new Kawasaki Brute Force 650 and 750i's as well as a Teryx 750. They even had a huge cooler under the awning filled to the rim with Monster energy drinks and ice, but I was already too amped up for the ride to participate in the consumption of anything that would give me more energy. Finally, after my anticipation continued to build pressure during an informational speech from the owner about the mines, I was dressed and ready to roll out. Just about the time that I had snapped my helmet strap into place and pulled down my goggles, the bottom literally began to fall out. It was pouring rain, but I didn't care, I was off to ride underground in complete darkness. It took about 20 minutes as we wound our way through muddy tree-canopied trails, up and down the property and finally reaching the old mine entrance. This entrance was actually quite spooky looking as if it were right out of a horror flick and was lined with aged wooden railroad ties. As we entered into the mine and began the 150-foot descent into the depths, my heart began pounding out of my chest. Immediately it went from daylight to complete darkness, and it took a minute or so for my eyes to adjust. But as they began to focus in the little bit of light that my Brute Force was putting out, I was amazed at the details I could make out. With what little light I had from the ATVs, the walls and pillars looked like one of those video clips that we always see on the news channels of Osama bin Laden and his gang hanging out in a cave in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan. The walls were gray in color and had a crazy chiseled-looking texture to them. I was sure Osama himself might jump out from around one of the enormous pillars at any moment. I honestly felt as if I'd entered another world or dimension where time and space stood still.

For the next several minutes, we wound in and out of the enormous pillars as we made our way deeper and deeper into the mine. On each side of the path were dark cave openings that I admittedly wanted to break free from the group to explore, but I was a good boy. Plus, that idea never works out well for Scooby-Doo and Shaggy. It wasn't long before we climbed up a 10-foot-high embankment and squeezed into another section of the mine. We descended even deeper at this point into the abyss only to find a beautiful underground lake that opened up before my very eyes. Now this was heaven and a little weird, too. Can anyone say "ATV spelunking"? I'd never been spelunking before, but that's certainly what it felt like, only we were doing it on our Brute Forces. I immediately kicked it into four-wheel-drive and made my first pass through the lake. Take note that I said, "first pass." I had so much fun bogging or spelunking through this underground lake that I literally did it about 20 more times. I was like a kid on a quad exploring a new cave. Oh, wait, that is what I was doing!

After my quad and all of my gear were good and wet from the underground lake, we all stopped to chill and enjoy our surroundings for a few minutes. Our guide and the owner of the resort, Tim Silbaugh, had each and every single one of us in the group turn off the lights and motors to the ATVs. Whoa, that was extremely dark! I don't care where you go in this world, there is almost always some ambient light, but not here! It was completely pitch black and extremely creepy at the same time. And did I mention quiet as well? I just sat back for a few minutes and enjoyed the silence and the awe of where I was. At this point, we'd been in the mine for about an hour and a half and Tim wanted to show us the rest of his off-road resort. Personally, I'd have been as happy as a bat in a cave to explore the insides of the mine all day. Oh, and yes, this mine is home to thousands of sharp-fanged bats.