First off, it appears that a local caving group has been hard at work cleaning up the cave. They've done sand blasting to remove tons of grafiti. They've mapped out several trails that you can use to guide yourself through the cave, and even posted it all online (see the link above).

Second, i took both Alex and Ellie with me, as well as my brother. I was worried that Ellie might not like it so much once we actually got inside, but she had a blast. We spent over three hours crawling around, sliding down steep inclines, using ropes to lower ourselves into vast rooms, squeezing through tight holes, and just generally having a blast.

And third, we actually have gps coordinates of the cave entrance now. I finally decided to take my gps and mark exactly how to get to the caves. Previously, i would just remember that i need to turn here, turn there, follow that dirt road, turn again at the fork, etc..etc.. So if anyone is planning to head out to the caves but isn't sure how to get there, ask me for directions. I'll be happy to let you know.

Oh, we also found a geocache very near to the entrance. In fact, it was almost in the same spot where we spotted the snake last month when we were out at the caves (that trip was simply to get the gps coordinates - we didn't have any caving gear with us at the time).