minecraft antics

So I'm playing around in a relatively new minecraft world, just wandering and exploring, and I get lost in a cave, and finally decide that since I am going around in circles and can't find the way out (as defined by "the way I came in", I would dig my way free.

Now, digging straight up is a recipe for Getting Dead; and digging straight across gets you nowhere, except possibly lava; but digging at a 45 degree angle, up and over, works fine, as long as you have the tools. So I dig... and dig...

...and dig...

...and dig...

...and check my altitude, because hot damn have I been digging a lot; it's 68, so I figure I'm near the surface. Right?

Gotta be.

So I dig...

...and dig...

...and dig...

I finally see sandstone, which is generally an indication of sand, which is often an indicator of desert, which is sometimes an indicator of fresh air. So I keep digging.

I come out--
(finally)

-- to find that I basically was digging up a really tall-ass mountain.

I came out at altitude 85; just for fun I climbed to the top, which was altitude 115. Nice view, really.