I awoke from a deep slumber, completely disoriented. I looked up at the overwhelming darkness above me, desperately hoping to see trails of scattered stars to help me figure out exactly where I was. Instead, all I saw was pitch-black nothingness. It gradually dawned on me that I had dozed off the night before on a swaying hammock deep inside a massive cave, where we had journeyed for a grueling overnight spelunking expedition.

It was a cave with a staggering ceiling rising as high as 200 feet. I looked down at my glowing watch, and it showed 6:35 AM. It was bright daytime outside, but it remained an infinite, heavy evening inside this dark cavern. As we slowly prepared for our hot breakfast before crawling our way out through the other end, I stood up and quietly packed my mud-stained belongings. I mentally prepared myself for the rigorous, physically demanding routes that still awaited us across the many chambers of Langun Gobingob.