Less than a mile south of the Pequea boat launch in Pequea, Pa, there is quite possibly my favorite place in Lancaster County. Wind Cave (aka Cold Cave) lies along the Conestoga Trail (orange blazes) and can be reached from two direction. Usually I will park along River Road on the side of the road near where the trail crosses River Road, and from there it is only a short walk until you see the brightly marked orange blazes leading you into the woods. The other entrance is through Reed Run/ House Rock, which is not directly on the Conestoga trail so you must first hike down the blue blazes and take a right turn when you find the orange blazes. Either way Cold Cave is reachable with somewhere around a mile hike, but the Reed Run entrance is less steep. When approaching from the north (River Road entrance), you will see what almost looks like an overgrown boulder field lying along the ridgeline you have just come up. When approaching from the south, you must first climb down much of the rock to reach the main entrance. The entrance itself looks like a vertical slice in the earth, probably around 10 feet tall, but only a few feet wide (at the entrance). If you are there without headlamps and want to stay dry, you can still walk about 100 feet into the cave without needing much of any artificial light. From this point you will see a split in the path, one that continues straight and one off to the right (which you must climb over a rock to crawl into). In many of my recent trips, I havent bothered to go down the straight path, because it basically only goes straight back and one can either take a low path or higher path that goes to the same end. two redeeming factors is that at the end of the passage, you will find a huge crack that slowly gets narrower as it goes straight back. I’ve shimmied my way down as far as I could, but two years of college have made me a little too wide to get far. The second cool thing about this path is if you take the higher road, you can do some somewhat acrobatic climbing to get very close to the surface and even see some sunlight. I’ve only done it a few times as it would make for a very painful fall if I fell. Now lets move on to the right, for there are several passages that makes this cave as incredible as it is. If you go down to the right, you will find yourself crouching down as you progress down several slopes. The first (and best) room can be found if, once you are able to stand back up, you continue straight until there is a large boulder suspended forcing you to go to the right. If you go to the right you will find a small room and the entrance to the aptly named section of the cave dubbed “hell”. However the largest room can be reached if you either go over or under that large boulder, and there is usually a puddle to show you where you must slide under. If you go under, you must crawl as far straight as possible and then go vertical until you reach the room (which is named by vandals as the Cathedral of Fun), or if you go over the boulder you basically crawl forward as much as possible and climb vertically (less than if you go under) to reach the room. This room is nearly 20 feet high and probably three times as wide, and has lots of ledges that can be climbed. If you continue straight in this room there is what seems to be a garbage dump and although it is possible that it leads somewhere, the broken glass kept me from crawling down very far. Going back to if you go to the right before the boulder, the room to the right is fairly small but has a couchshaped seat that is fun to relax for a bit. the label of “hell” points downward at the far end of the room, but I warn you this section of the cave all looks the same and can be very claustrophobic and disorienting. But for the adventurous person with some way of retracing their steps, it is a fun part of the cave, and I have found a way to get back to the main part of the cave (but I honestly couldn’t tell you how). Near where the boulder is, you may see a third passage that leads even further down, and after walking down this path for a ways you will find yourself looking over the edge of about a 10 foot drop. This is where the cave used to have a wooden bridge, but has since been taken out. Instead here is where you must harness your inner Spiderman, and crawl between the two walls of the cave with your back against one wall and your feet propped up on the other.
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