Bread & Butter
LV Recommends
Spelunk Beer, caves and medieval fantasy in Maquoketa. BY EMMA MCCLATCHEY
“S
aid Gawain, gay of cheer, ‘Whether fate be foul or fair, Why falter I or fear? What should man do but dare?’” —‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,’ late 14th century poem “The green girdle stays on during sex.” —Sir Gawain (paraphrased), ‘The Green Knight,’ 2021 film
When I was a 10-year-old Girl Scout on a field trip to Maquoketa Caves, I joined a small fellowship of brave Juniors who decided to go as deep into one of the caves as we could. This wasn’t the gaping maw of the Dancehall Cave, but a smaller cavern (I think it was the Wye Cave) that got narrower and narrower the further we spelunked. Our headlamps lit orange-brown stalactites and stalagmites—“The ’mites go up and the ’tites come down,” we recited over and over—the walls slick and crusted with minerals. We could see only about 10 feet ahead of us, had no idea how far we’d crawled and, more importantly, how much further the cave went, how much tighter it would get and if there even was an opening at the end. Turning around didn’t feel like an option, until suddenly it was—until, at some random point, one
Fat Man’s Misery beckons at Maquoketa Caves State Park. Emma McClatchey / Little Village. Emma McClatchey / Little Village
of us admitted to a bit of claustrophobia and fear that we could, well, literally die if our dimming flashlights decided to burn out in the bowels of this old Iowa hill. I remember crying as we turned around, crawling for an hour in the direction we’d already come when, in theory, an exit could have been just 20 more feet ahead of us. We just didn’t know, and sometimes you have to make the choice you know is safe, however annoying or boring. But when we finally reemerged into the daylight and soft green forest canopy, it felt like a birth. We joined our fellow, wiser scouts in sliding down a muddy hill over and over until it was time to wrap ourselves in garbage bags, load up the minivans and transport our bruised bodies back to
Be famous. (Kinda.) Little Village is looking for writers. Contact: Editor@LittleVillageMag.com 36 September 2021 LITTLEVILLAGEMAG.COM/LV298
