Three weeks into their expedition, Chris Jewell and his team
arrived at what looked like a calm, rock-enclosed lake about 100
feet wide. But as they knew, this was no lake: It was a sump, a
low-lying trench where water collects – and they were almost a
mile beneath the surface of the Earth. "When our toes were at
the water's edge, we knew we were in new territory," says
Jewell. "You're going somewhere no one else has been before."
Since its discovery in 1965, Sistema Huautla, a cave system
tucked into Mexico's Sierra Mazateca mountains, has lured
explorers from around the world. "If Dr. Seuss had done a book
on caves, it would look like this," says veteran caver Bill
Steele, 65, who has taken over a dozen trips to Huautla since
the late '70s and joined in for part of this year's trip. Thanks
to its seemingly endless passages, waterfalls up to 60 stories
high, and natural wonders like the massive, 300-foot-high
chamber called Anthrodite Hall, it is, Steele says, "probably
the best cave on earth - lots and lot