Pine Hill Lake

I finally got a much needed break from stuff that has been going on this summer.  I was able to drive down to Berea and stay at my friend Daniel's house and then Thursday evening a group of us got together to go caving.  The original plan was to go to Arthur Singleton's Cave (which I now knew where it was) but I decided I didn't want to make the drive.  So I decided we'd go to Pine Hill Cave to do some exploring.

The spot I wanted to explore was to the right of the main entrance.  There are a series of domes and what is labeled as "Pine Hill Lake".  This "lake" is basically a large area of pretty slow water as it gets lower and lower into a sump before it's pretty much impossible to go any further without scuba gear.  This is where it will eventually go into Blue Hole Cave.

It took us a little while to get onto the right path, while trying to follow the map.  But we eventually did and came across the first couple domes.

                                    (Some of the formations in the domes)
We ended up going the hard way, doing some climbing through break down and some domes until we eventually rejoined the main stream.  After a little bit of hands and knees crawling we could stand up some and then it became obvious we were entering the edge of "Pine Hill Lake".

Pretty soon it became stooping, and the water began to get deeper....

And the ceiling got lower... Until we were up to our shoulders/necks in the cold murky water and our heads scraped the ceiling.

After a while we decided to not go any further into the sump.  I was also trying to keep my camera dry so I held my hands above the water.  But we waded our way back out, and went an easier way back near the main entrance.  We had a small group meeting and then decided to go to the waterfalls. Something fun, and easy.  So we traversed all the way up, and then had fun jumping off Thunder Falls into the pool below.

                                       (Most of our group below the falls, waiting for me to jump)
We all made it out safely (obviously).  It was a great fun trip.  I loved wading through the sump.  If the region got a lot of rain, though, it would be a very dangerous place to be, though.  But it was a great break and a fun time to spend with my friends!