You've traveled to the mid-island and have pulled into the parking lot at Horne Lake Caves Provincial Park, 16 kilometers west of Qualicum Beach. It's early in the day, and the first-come, first-served tours start at 10 a.m. Knowing that three of the caves are easily accessible for self-guided tours, you decide to first take the one-hour guided trip through Riverbend, the larger of the three. You shrug into your sweater (the air inside the caves is chilly), tie up your walking shoes, strap on your rented helmet and flick on your flashlight. The tour guide explains how water leaking down through the limestone created a weak acid solution that carved out the chambers. You wander through the caves, watchful for slippery sections and low overhangs while marveling at the play of light against the rock walls. Following the guided tour, you sign up for a five-hour caving lesson.

Having caught the spelunking bug, you head up island to the Upana Caves, a more extensive network of underground caverns near the Village of Gold River. With 15 known entrances and nearly 1,500 feet of passages, the Upana Caves have attracted thousands of visitors since the first mapping began in 1975. You might be familiar with the caves as they were used for the underground sequences of the television series Huckleberry Finn and His Friends. After parking the car and checking that you have all your gear - including warm clothing, flashlight and good shoes - you walk down the trail through old-growth forest and the dry gully to the entrance of Insect Cave, a damp, dark underground home for crickets and spiders. With both an underground and surface trail to follow (it's your choice), you continue on, eventually entering Main Cave with is numerous passages. If you're underground, you come across the Upana River which follows an underground route for 30 meters before disappearing. You eventually come across the river again when it reappears in Resurgence Cave, whose walls have been transformed by heat and pressure into smooth, white marble. You are careful not to disturb the underground insects, cave formations and you take all litter out in your pack. Smokers, of course, have refrained from lighting up inside the caves.

For more information about caving in British Columbia, call the B.C. Speleological Federation at 1-250-283-2283.

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