Unique ATV Cave Ride at Mines & Meadows Resort

“Hey John – would you be interested in ridingentered was about the size of a high school
in an underground mine this spring?”gymnasium, except with a relatively low ceiling.
We get a lot of strange phone calls at the office, butOnce our group was inside and some photos were
seeing that this one came from a credible source andtaken, we followed our leader deeper inside. We
the calendar didn’t read April 1, we were willingcould see only as far as our headlights would stretch,
to give it the benefit of the doubt.and only in the direction of those lights. Want to get
The call was from Justin Dawes, the ATVa close look at the rocky walls? Better turn your
communications guru for Kawasaki. It seems he andmachine in that direction, because that’s the only
fellow adventurous motorhead Jon Rall, also ofway you’re going to see them.
Kawasaki, had a trick up their sleeve.The mine itself was created in the 1800s, as mining
They had caught the scent of a unique ridingcrews using the relatively crude tools available at the
destination in west-central Pennsylvania called thetime burrowed through a tall hill to capture the natural
Mines & Meadows Resort and thought it wouldstrip of limestone found there. For more than 60
be an excellent destination in which they couldyears, limestone was pulled from the mine and used
feature the capabilities of the company’s Brutein local cement manufacturing until the mine closed in
Force 750 4x4.1958. When digging out the limestone, crews had to
Frankly, the 54 miles of above-ground trails areleave sections of stone untouched every 35 feet so
reason enough to visit the Mines & Meadowsthe ceiling wouldn’t collapse – in essence,
Resort, as the varied terrain, featuring hillclimbs, rockleaving irregularly shaped pillars of support.   
crawls and mud pits, provides challenges forWhat’s left is a sort of drive-thru, underground
seasoned riders but other easy trails with gentle,beehive. As we followed our leader deeper into the
sweeping turns let anybody come and give it a shot.mine, our main path snaked through the darkness,
The underground limestone mine, however, raises thisand on each side of us there would be a
riding destination to the next level. How many places“pillar,” then what looked like a secret room
can you go where you get great trails, plus a chanceor passageway leading farther into the darkness. We
to ride 200 feet underground in complete blackness,weaved our Brute Force 750 back and forth to
and drive through an underground lake?throw some light into these side areas. Some were
The answer, as best we can tell, is one – andshallow, some were deep, and in some cases there
that one place is Mines & Meadows.would be a room behind the room, again, with pillars
Putting It Togetherseparating the spaces every 35 feet.
Upon meeting Bob Svihra, the brainchild andThe ceiling hung about 15 feet from the floor in most
moneyman behind Mines & Meadows, it’splaces, though occasionally we’d drive through a
sometimes a wonder this guy can make it through“keyhole” or other area that wasn’t dug
tying his shoes in the morning without gettingout quite as much, and we’d have to duck our
distracted by an idea that’s rolling through hisheads as our ATV climbed over rock to make it
head. When he talks, one sentence hardly getsthrough to the next room.
finished before the next comes tumbling out of hisThe pure darkness is the first thing that grabs your
mouth, and he seems less likely to stay on theattention – it’s eerie, especially when
original  topic than to bounce to something else heeverybody turns off their headlights and it is absolute
wants to say.darkness. Your eyes try to adjust to the changing
He’s not scatterbrained, however. Svihra haslight conditions, but in truth they’ll never catch up
been very successful, having started and run– without even a sliver of light coming in from
businesses involved in disparate fields like medicalanywhere, you are completely blinded. Luckily the
waste removal, shoulder and knee harnessKawis sprung back to life and we were off again.
manufacturing, creating a process to removeAlso notable is a musty, cool dampness. The mine
materials from compact discs and DVDs and as anstays at 55 degrees year-round, and the humidity
investor in a variety of things, including the localhovers at about 80 percent. It made it a perfect
BeaveRun motorsports complex located a coupleplace for a mushroom (yes, LEGAL mushrooms!)
miles down the road from Mines & Meadows. Sogrowing operation that filled this particular mine in the
Svihra’s definitely a person who has proven he1970s and '80s. Crews of up to 45 people worked
can follow through on a concept, but while he’saround the clock like moles in this cave, ensuring
doing that, a dozen other ideas are also pulsingproper garnish for pizzas, salads and the like.
through his gray matter.The grade is mostly flat in the mine – you’re
“One business supports the next one that I do,actually not going downhill into the earth, instead the
and then that supports the next one that I do … .earth rises 200 feet in the form of a hill while riders
I’m a good builder but a lousy maintainer –go through.  
so when I do something like this, I throw it over myEventually, we came to a 3-acre underground
shoulder and let somebody else take care of it once“lake.” The word lake is in quotes because
it’s up and running,” Svihra said with a laugh.the water here is merely trapped by a dam on the
Mines & Meadows is one of his latest start-ups.far end of the mine. Still, it’s an interesting sight,
Some friends took Svihra on an ATV ride throughand fun to drive through.
some private property about seven years ago. TheThe mine was left abandoned beginning in the mid
trail riding was interesting, but then his friends took'80s and became a hangout for local explorers and
him boondocking into an abandoned limestone mine.party hounds until the Grinnen family purchased the
“When they took me into the mine, being anland.
entrepreneur, I put two and two together and said,“We wanted to develop it and possibly get into
‘This would be a great ATV riding place.’ Sorecord storage and storage of vehicles, boats,
that’s what I tried doing,” Svihra explained.motorhomes and campers,” explained Steve
Svihra invested $2 million in the park, initiallyGrinnen. “Also, our main goal right now is a
purchasing more than 400 acres of land around thewinery.  This is the perfect temperature for storing
mine and leasing part of the mine from the Grinnenwine, and the humidity can be controlled very easily.
family, which bought the mine in 2004 and formedThere’s a lot of square footage in here.”
the Underland Development Corporation. The ridingIn all, leisurely tours through the mine take about an
park has now grown to more than 600 acres abovehour. There’s no extra charge for the mine tour
ground, with 54 miles of trails that twist through– it comes with the price of admission, but the
interesting and varied terrain.only way in and out is with a guide.
Another 14 acres is found underground in theAbove Ground:
limestone mine, providing a unique experience forTrails Everywhere!
visitors.The mine is awesome, but we’d be interested in
Underground:riding at Mines & Meadows even without it.
The MineThe facility has more than 50 miles of trails that twist
After a brief trail ride through some April showers,through the wooded and rolling landscape. A
our Kawasaki-mounted party made its way to thecolor-coded map illustrated the spiderweb of trails,
mouth of the mine. The doorway looked to be aboutwith easy yellow and green trails running around the
5 feet wide and 7 feet tall, with wood sign readingperimeter and down the center of the trail system,
“Mine Entrance – Guided Tours Only”and then a hodge-podge of blue and black trails
hanging above the door. The doorway was lined ondemarking the greater areas of challenge.
the top and sides by wooden beams similar toOut on the Brute Force, we found the system to be
railroad ties, and from the outside it looked like werelatively easy to understand, as trails were marked
were entering a bear’s den.by number and color, and direction signs pointed the
We watched other machines disappear into theway back to the main staging area.
darkness, then took a deep breath and venturedBest yet, many of the trails are one-way in nature,
through the narrow gateway. The bright light outsidemaking it unlikely you’d ever meet somebody in
was quickly replaced by darkness – our eyesa corner and really easy to find your way back to
struggled to adjust to the sudden change in ambientyour tow vehicle, as all trails eventually lead to other
light. Luckily the headlights from the Brute Forcetrails that will take you back.
illuminated a narrow path in front of us as weKnowing they had some experienced riders with
plodded forward.them, our guides took us to the toughest stuff the
The initial staging room does feature just a tiny bit ofpark could muster. The challenges were fun, but in
light, thanks to whatever brightness sneaks throughthe end, the rock scramble, powerline hill climb and
the doorway, but it’s still dark. The room wemudbog were ideal habitat for the Brute Force 750.