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8/21/21, Nimrod Springs, Montana

  • Writer: Caleb Forsberg
    Caleb Forsberg
  • Sep 27, 2021
  • 11 min read

It’s in places of discomfort that I often find joy, yet I’m so naturally inclined to avoid it. I would much rather feel safe than joyful if I was honest with myself. I came to Montana to seek adventure in new places, but I didn’t know that with adventure comes natural fear and sometimes pain. The rewards for seeking adventure are joy that can only be found in novel places, knowledge from learning new skills, memories that will last a lifetime, and the most valuable, the way our souls come alive again when we decide to press into the discomfort.


At 2 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon, I was very comfortable. I was sitting on my back porch; I already had my morning coffee and had no pressing responsibilities for the day. I was very safe, but my soul didn’t feel that way at all. Something needed to happen. Something that would get me off my but and get moving. I thought about going on a run. Running usually scratches that itch for me. The need to get outside and do something with my life. Running can be great for me in that way, and best of all, I’m very comfortable with it.


Running was a good option on how to spend my afternoon, but I remember my friend Cody Carlson saying to me earlier in the week that we should hit some mountain biking trails on Saturday, a common way we spend time together. I enjoy mountain biking, but when I go, it’s usually on trails I’m very familiar with and know that the chances of crashing are low. I like smooth trails with little turns and that give me the feeling of being a daredevil. These are the trails I choose to ride when alone. I knew if I called Cody, we wouldn’t be riding just these trails. Just two weekends prior, Cody introduced me to Marshall Mountain, the premiere mountain bike trail system in Missoula and the only one with rated trails. We rode a blue diamond, which was my first time ever attempting a rated trail on a mountain bike, and I crashed three times on the berms before figuring out how to turn hard enough to make each turn. Once I did figure it out, we rode the trail like we had no fear of performing superman stunts on our bikes. It was a fantastic experience, and it made my day, but even the thought of going back there still gave me the chills. Cody is a great friend, in fact, he is the kind of friend people wish for, but he is by no means safe. Good for me, I was just bored of enough of being safe to give him a call.


He picked up on the second ring, I asked if he wanted to do something fun. I even suggested that we could go mountain biking trying to reconquer my own fears. He shot down that idea to my surprise and shot back another one instead: Nimrod Warm Springs. Fear had already wrapped its claws around my throat, because that wasn’t the first time I had heard of Nimrod Springs. The spring has great swimming opportunities and is hardly ever crowded, but what makes it special is an underwater cave. To get to this mysterious cave that only a few of my friends have actually gone into, you have to swim beneath the surface of the water under a wall of rock into a dark space that just yells at you, “Come if you dare!” Before today, I had no ambition of attempting this feat, so I immediately tried to shoo away the idea. I told Cody it was not a good day for swimming, because of the overcast and I wasn’t wrong, but he wouldn’t take that as an excuse. Then I said that it was probably too far of a drive, and we wouldn’t have time since it was already afternoon. He immediately fired back that it was only 26 miles away and wouldn’t take longer than a half-hour to reach it. I knew then that I would either have to back out entirely or just call it an adventure, so I threw a towel and my swim trunks in my dry bag and headed for Cody’s house.


He hopped in my car, and we started making our way east on I-90. There was an overcast in the sky, but it looked like we might still catch some sun. Cody started to check online to see if the flashlights he had brought were waterproof. When he found out they weren’t, he improvised and decided to use a cheap laundry plastic suit bag he found in my car as a cover. He wrapped the bag a few times around his pocket-size flashlight, and we had ourselves a waterproof flashlight (if you held the bag tight enough). We weren’t exactly sure where we were going, we just knew where we wanted to be. That’s how we got there. We saw the large, slanted rock off the side of the highway and took the next exit leading us to an old road that had been abandoned and was covered in rockslides. I parked a few yards behind the first rockslide and just hoped my car would still be there when we got back. We listened to “Brown-Eyed Girl” playing off of Cody’s speaker on our walk to the spring. It blinded my fear of cave diving for the moment and made me want to dive into the water from the highest rock we could find and that’s what we did.


On the count of three, we jumped into clear water with over a dozen unexpectant fish below who were about to receive a probably unwelcomed surprise. The water immediately woke us up like flipping on the cold water in the shower first thing in the morning. It was tolerable as long the sun was shining on us. I had brought my goggles with me and after a quick swim under the water, I saw that this spring had more than just a dozen fish. The whole spring was filled with some sort of trout we thought in practically every corner. They wanted to check us out but gave us space when we invaded their personal bubble. The rocks themselves were sharp and covered with wholes. The wholes were good for climbing but were filled with snakes, spiders and who knows what else. Where the creek flowed into the spring hung a rock overhand the length of a normal car that would be a perfect amateur bouldering spot if you weren’t too afraid of spiders. I figured the cave had to beneath this overhand somewhere, but I wasn’t about to find out myself.


We swam around the spring a while longer till the overcast grew darker and the ambient air temperature dropped. Neither of us could decide whether swimming in the water or standing outside of it in the cool breeze was colder. If we wanted to find the cave, we had to start looking soon to avoid non-stop shivering. After some dives under the water, Cody determined that the cave was somewhere under the overhang. There was no avoiding the cave now.


Cody dove the overhang in his first attempt to find the exact spot of the cave. Within a few seconds and what must have felt like minutes for Cody, I watched him shoot out of the water back on my side of the overhand gasping for breath. I had never seen fear in Cody’s eyes before that day, which added to my own fear. Cody usually is the one ahead of me on mountain bike trails pushing me to go a little faster or to try a jump. If he had a close call, there was no way I was going to make it. He told me how when he went under, he couldn’t see the cave and almost believed that there was a small space of air between the surface of the water and the bottom of the overhang. He deliberated going up to see if he could take a breath, but by the time that thought crossed his mind his body was already screaming at him to get oxygen right then forcing him to turn around and go for the place where he knew he could find some. Cody then asked me if he should try again. I wanted to say no, partly because I knew if he found it then I would have to try to go in, but mostly because I didn’t want to send my friend to his doom. Yet, for whatever reason, I let him go. He dove under again, this time aiming for the middle of the overhang. Seconds went by, which then turned into minutes. A lady standing in the water behind me then said, “Well, he either made it or he’s dead.” A horrifying thought immediately crossed my mind, “Did I just let my friend die?” I waited for him to surface back up on my side. Thoughts raced across my mind of whether I should look for the cave myself, but I just kept treading water. “He must have made it”, I thought. I dropped my head underneath the water and kept debating whether I should look for it myself, when Cody surfaced back on my side of the overhang, happily saying he had found the cave. Now it was my turn.


Cody came back holding a rope attached to a ladder from inside the cave. It could guide anyone to the entrance. Now I had no excuse. The sense of my fear shot up like I was dropping from the top of a roller coaster for the first time. Everything in my body was pulling me away. Cody was treading water trying to hold the rope, his flashlight wrapped in a plastic bag, while calling me over to grab the rope so I could swim across with him. Cody made it the first time, but he didn’t climb into the cave yet. He said he wanted to do it with me. I sat on the bank trying to convince myself to do it. Cody couldn’t tread for much longer, so I swam over and grabbed the rope. I dunked my head underwater and could see the ladder hanging down on the other side. Cody and I were both shivering uncontrollably at this point. A storm was hovering over us dropping the ambient air temperature rapidly. The cold was making it hard to take a decent breath and keep it, making even a four-foot swim underwater a terrifying feat. Two girls stood in the shallow water behind us while Cody and I treaded water, waiting for me to take my plunge. I took about ten deep breathes telling myself each time that this was the one I needed before I dove under the water. On about the tenth breath, I plunged underneath the water and made my first stroke towards the ladder. I was underneath the overhang. The ladder still seemed too far away. I would have to make at least three more strokes before reaching a surface that I didn’t exactly know where it could be found. In a millisecond, I reacted and swam back while shooting back to the surface. I bumped my head on the way out and swam back to the bank. I got out of the water and went back to shivering.


The two girls were waiting to use the rope Cody had found. I waved them on letting them go ahead of me. They stepped up to the plate. Cody handed them the rope and they dropped under the water. Not more than a few seconds later they came back up. They walked back to the shore and the rope was now again free.


Cody held the rope up for me giving me another chance. Thunder clouds roared from the storm over us, and we could see lightning strike a few miles off. A sigh of relief came over me and at the same time a feeling of regret. It was just the excuse I needed, and I didn’t think I would be able to talk myself into it. Growing up in Florida, everyone knows to get out of the water as soon as you hear thunder. That didn’t stop Cody. He was too close to leave this spring without climbing into the cave. He dove under and swam across.


Fear kept me on the bank. While I sat there, I remembered the last time I was terrified of something. I was in a pitch-black forest with a small headlamp and a compass. I had lost the road and wandered until I hit a fence line. My fear didn’t subside till I saw a dim red light off from another headlamp in the distance, leading me back to the road. The only other time I remember being that scared was as a little kid being strapped into a roller coaster. I never wanted to let fear take me over that way ever again. I lunged for the middle of the overhang. The rope was somewhere on the other side of the cave and Cody had the flashlight. After three deep breathes, I dove under the overhang and kept swimming.


I was wearing goggles, but I must have closed my eyes, because I kept trying to raise my head hoping I would surface, instead my head kept bumping against the bottom side of the overhang. Five times I hit my head against solid rock hoping for fresh air. I was still afraid, but I didn’t have any intention of turning back this time. I would keep searching. I raised my head for the sixth time and this time nothing pushed me back down. I was thrilled and surprised by myself to see the inside of the cave and Cody inside just above the ladder.


“Caleb! You made it! I didn’t think you were going to try again.”


“I didn’t think I would either”, I replied.


It was true, I really didn’t think I would. I kept thinking, “I can’t believe I just did that!” Cody invited me up into the cave and I climbed up the ladder that immediately swung out from beneath me. I pulled myself up onto the dry rock. There wasn’t much on the inside besides some objects people had brought inside like a lighter that didn’t work. We spent just a few moments in the cave, because I was anxious to get out knowing that there was a storm overhead.


I lowered myself back down into the water and dropped my head under the water to get a look at the other side. I could see the light on the other side and the girls treading water. With just one breath, I dove back under the water and with one strong stroke came out on the other side with no extra bumps on my head. Cody soon followed.


When the girls saw us surface, they thought it would be best to try another time and made their escape.


It had just started raining and Cody and I were both shivering. We grabbed our stuff and headed for my car, electric from what we had both accomplished, already retelling the story to each other. The rain bothered me none. It could have been pouring hail and it would have just added to the thrill of the adventure.


After a heated car ride back to Cody’s place, we started telling Cody’s wife Kiara of our heroic accomplishments. We told her about Cody’s risky move to find the cave, all the fish we found, and my dramatic decision to go for it in the end. Kiara plans on going there with Cody next time she gets the chance. She made us chocolate lava cakes along with hot chocolate to warm us up. I never felt like I had earned such a perfect treat more in my life. Cody put on luau music to fit with the lava cakes. I might have well been on the beach because I don’t think I could have felt warmer than in their basement home.


Those couple hours were very uncomfortable. During those few hours, I felt more alive than a thousand days staring at a computer screen. We weren’t made to spend all the days of our lives safely behind the walls of our homes, and I’m convinced that our souls crave adventure, a quest of some sort you could say. The last four years in Montana have been a quest for me. A quest with a mission of finding adventure. They have been full of pain I’ll never forget and also friends that made me feel loved and appreciated. With adventure comes fear, and at the same time opportunities to be courageous. I may not be the bravest soul on the planet when it comes to riding fast down sketchy mountain bike trails, but when the moments come, you can bet I’ll choose courage.

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by Caleb Forsberg

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