Underground adventures offer a different type of thrill | Canada Voices

There’s a rush that comes with being underground. In dark caves, we explore a world that’s so different from the one we typically inhabit – a thrill that comes from a mix of excitement and risk.

While exploring caves, known as spelunking, can be fun, it can also be dangerous. It’s possible to fall, get lost or trapped, just to name a few hazards.

But that sense of danger and excitement is what makes spelunking so good for our brains, explains Toronto psychologist Kim Foster Yardley.

“You’re challenging fears you might have,” she says, adding that once you’ve overcome your phobias and gain expertise, it leads to healthier dopamine levels and improved mental resilience. It’s part of why spelunkers seek out harder and harder journeys as they improve their skills: “It gives them a sense of accomplishment and mastery, which is so important for depression and anxiety,” she says.

Our brains also thrive on new experiences, which makes starting a difficult hobby like caving so enriching. In fact, a study from 2025 found that older adults with depression increased their odds of recovery by 272 per cent after taking up a hobby. And adults without depression lowered their odds of developing it by 32 per cent if they had a hobby.

“We are creating new ways for our brain to look at and absorb information and creating new neural pathways,” Foster Yardley explains. “Being able to feel a sense of awe and wonder in the world is exceptionally good for our mental health.”

Being in nature helps too. Spending time in the great outdoors has been proven to increase our attention, mood, self-regulation and stress. Even simple things like hearing running water or encountering wildlife – which can be experienced while hiking to a cave or while you’re spelunking – can yield mental health benefits, Foster Yardley says.

Here are three experiences in Canada to get you started on an underground adventure.

Adventure Tour with Canmore Cave Tours

This journey in the Canadian Rockies starts with a thrilling descent down six storeys. Once below the surface, adventurers get to navigate challenging passages while discovering fossils, ancient cave formations and pictographs.

Tour the Britannia Mine Museum

This B.C. mine was once one of the country’s largest sources of copper. Today, it’s a museum where visitors can hop aboard a train and head underground to learn about the metal and working conditions during the mine’s heyday.

Scenic Cave Nature Adventures in Collingwood, Ont.

Located in one of Canada’s 18 UNESCO biosphere reserves and dating back 450 million years, the aptly named Scenic Caves is a self-guided trail that weaves through 17 geological features, including a labyrinth of caves and caverns that burrow 70 feet into the ground.