Tower Domes

So today was a trip to Pine Hill Cave.  And it's only been a week since I took my cousins and a few friends from school... It seems like that was such a long time ago, already.

Anyway, the same guy that gave me directions to find certain rooms in Pine Hill Cave this summer, invited me on a trip to Pine Hill today.  It was nice to finally meet him in person.

We got to the entrance and made pretty good time.  I showed him the pool formations at the top of a crack.  He had never seen them before.  We made it to the Main Fork, and then we took the right passage.  Brandon and I tried several times to find the route to the tower domes, but we never did.  The first Dome was pretty impressive.  But what was even better, was Mike brought some high powered lights.  They lit up the domes pretty nice.

The second tower dome was close to the first.  It's almost like a connected maze.  And still after the second dome, is a large canyon.  It stretches quite a distance, and it twists and turns a little bit.  It's probably about 100 feet high.  At one end of the canyon Mike took me up into a little room where there are some impressive formations.

After we were done checking out this area, we made our way back to the main fork.  We took a short break, and ate some snacks, and then we continued on to the left fork.  We climbed up into the upper level.  Mike actually showed me a way that is safer to get to the skylight dome passage, not that my way is all that "dangerous".  But then he had me lead the way to the Art Room, and those surrounding passages.  I showed him some shortcuts I'd found up in that area, and we went through the passages.  I did make a discovery.  At the very back of the Art Room the floor slopes up and Mike and I studied the ground.  There were a couple fair sized tree roots coming out of the embankment, as well as smaller, more fibrous ones.  So we couldn't have been that far from the surface.

We made our way back, and dropped back down into the main level.  We continued on up to the waterfalls.  We went through most of them, except right before you would turn right to go to the "big" one, we climbed out of the stream passage.  It was time for some exploring.  I had been wanting to go away from the waterfalls for quite some time.  We followed it.  For a while it was mostly just a straight passage where water used to flow through.  Pretty soon, though, we began to see formations.  And at one point there is a massive flowstone formation, with stalactites all around.

We continued on past this.  There were two ways to go.  We eventually check them both out.  Both eventually end in breakdown.  The cave does not go much farther than this because it butts up against a valley floor.  However, on the second route we chose to go we did emerge from some breakdown to find a new dome.  Neither of us knew it existed.  But it's pretty cool.

We finished up exploring and then made our way out.  Overall it was a really fun trip.  Mike and I got to know each other some, and we had some really great conversations.  And, I've had a big situation come up in my life right now, and it was really nice to spend 5 hours caving today, and forget it even existed.  And it was even greater to see some brand new cave passage, compliments of God's handiwork!

                                           (Me, standing in the canyon)

Link to the rest of my photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/jholcomb8/20110116PineHillMike#

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnENWf2_wEQ

Trip to Pine Hill Cave, with snow!

Well today was the first time I'd ever went caving when there was snow on the ground outside.  When we arrived at the cave, we stashed our change of clothes near the entrance.  It was really cold.  In the entrance of the cave there were some really cool ice formations and big ice stalactites.  However, when we went a little ways into the cave it began to get pretty warm.  Even the water was much warmer than the outside air temperature.

                                      (Ice formations near the entrance)

We made our way along, I was being more careful to not move too fast, and I took more breaks for some people so that no injuries occurred.  Most everyone checked out a small side passage real quick, and then we continued on to the skylight dome.

                                     (My cousin Erik, after we left the midsection bypass)

The rest of the trip went pretty good.  We made good time getting to the "Birth Canal"  And I really enjoyed the caribeaners I got for Christmas. I was able to clip one to a loop on my shoe and drag my backpack behind me.  It was so much easier than having to push it ahead of me.  One by one we all made it out of the passage and came into the Skylight Dome.

                                      (Megan, coming out into the skylight dome)
We took a break when we were in the dome, turned out our lights and admired the sunlight coming down.  And then we refreshed with some crackers and Gatorade.  Going out, the pack was much lighter.

                                   (Refreshing in the Skylight Dome)

When we were done we headed on out.  We were running behind on time, but I made the decision to not rush out as I didn't want anyone getting hurt.  That would have made things worse.  But we all made it out okay.  The interesting part was changing.  It was still really cold near the front of the cave.  We split up, and quickly put on dry clothes before heading back to the cars.  One of the guys that came along, Blaine, ran ahead and so he wasn't in the group picture.

                                  (Mark, Erik, Daniel, Alexas, & Megan)

The full link to all of the pictures is here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jholcomb8/PineHillJanuary# It was a pretty awesome trip, and it was really nice to get to go caving again.  I really appreciated my helmet I got for Christmas.  It seemed that I was bumping my head a lot since I got it.

Until next time, the caving addict! :D

Caving Helmets

Well, I thought I'd post a picture of my new caving helmet.  Uncle Larry and his family got me one for Christmas.  I never got one because they are expensive.  And it has clips to hold a headlamp on.  I also used some zip ties to mount a small LED flashlight to the sight where there were some slots.

The other night, Erik and I also "modded" some construction helmets.  Uncle larry has a bunch in his attic.  We drilled some holes in them and used some short bolts, nuts, and washers to create clips on the outside that would hold a headlamp on.

Also, I thought it would be worth mentioning the other amazing Christmas gifts I got from all of my family.  I got, I believe, 12 books on caves and caving, a dry bag for caving, and a collection of caribeaners.  These started my collection of gear for when I get into vertical caving.  I have friends at school that have done it a little bit.  At the end of the summer I hope to buy a harness and an ascender.

Tomorrow is a caving trip!  I haven't been able to go caving since the end of October.  My last plans for a trip were ruined by 4 inches of snow.  But it's all looking good now.  When my cousins Erik and Mark bring me back to school we are going caving.  I'll take them, Daniel Schlagel, and Megan to Pine Hill.  It should be a fun time.

Not so good caving trip

Today was caving day.  I'd been waiting for quite a while.  I had also been planning this trip for a while.  Several times I thought about whether or not is was worth trying to continue as it was such a pain to put together and my drivers came and went.  But, finally the night before everything seemed to be good.  We met down at the Facilities Barn and we got a late start.  But we eventually got to the mouth of the cave a little after 11.

We made good progress working our way through.  We got to the upper level and soon turned onto the passage to go to the Art Room. 

                                (Esther, Elizabeth [Daniel's sister] and Jason as we stopped to wait for others in the passage to the Art Room)

We stopped and ate lunch close to the Art Room.  I thought beforehand it would be a good place to eat as we are surrounded by cool formations.  After we were done eating Ben and I did a little exploring while the others talked.  Then, when we came back somebody started singing Amazing Grace and we turned out all our lights.  Then we had fun throwing glow sticks up into the air.  After that we continued on.  It didn't take long to reach the Art Room.

                                            (One of the pillars in the Art Room)
I always enjoy seeing the lines of calcium pillars sticking up out of the ground.  But my favorite is probably the gypsum formation that is towards the back.

It was about this time that I could see a couple of the girls, more noticeably, Megan, were getting really tired.  On the way back out, and after we had exited out of the "mini-canyon" we stopped and she asked me how much longer it would take us to get out.  I told her about 45 minutes.  I felt bad about it.  Every time we would stop she would sit down and want to sleep.  I had thought it wouldn't be a tough trip as I cut it down to visiting the bare minimum because I wanted it to be easy.  But I guess it was tough for her.

We continued on, stopping periodically.  When we were about halfway through the midsection by-pass The group behind us stopped.  Lydia had hurt her ankle.  So that delayed our getting out by a long time.  Daniel and Ben slowly helped her out.  I felt pretty useless as all I could do was show them the way out and find the easiest way down for Lydia.  I almost feel like it was my fault she got hurt if I had just went slower and told them to be more careful.  Esther had an extra shirt, and Daniel tried tying that around Lydia's ankle, but that wasn't enough.  So I gave up my coat and that did the trick.  It was the best foot support Daniel could devise.  But we finally got out and Daniel insisted I take a picture of him, Ben, and Lydia.

(Our group, left to right: Megan, Jason, Joel, Hannah, Esther, Elizabeth, Ben, Lydia, Daniel)

Well, we finally got back to the cars.  Daniel, Ben, and I ran off into the woods to change.  Then we loaded up.  Daniel and his carful took off.  I had been riding with others in Megan's car.  Well, I told her to turn right but I guess she didn't here.  Joel repeated to go right instead of left and Megan turned around.  it just so happen when she turned around she ran over a little sign that was on the ground.  Joel got out to see if anything had happened.  It turned out, a long metal rod from the sign went straight through her tire.  I got out and looked at it, and then told Megan to pop the trunk.  I dug out the spare tire, lug wrench, and jack.  I spent the next 15 minutes changing Megan's tire, with Joel helping me.  The jack was a pain, though.  it was poorly designed.  You could not hardly turn the jack handle to screw it up as the handle kept running into the ground.  And it didn't help the car was real low.  While I worked with the jack, Joel used the end of the lug wrench to dig out under the tire. 

We finally got the tire changed, and got the tools put away.  For once in my life, I felt useful and I was glad to help Megan out, especially with her being exhausted.  And she really appreciated it.  But anyway, that was our caving trip that didn't turn out too good.

100th Post!

Well it's my 100th post.  And for this post, I'm posting a post with our group picture from caving Saturday.  This was taken after we exited the cave, after our long day.

Our group (left to right, top) Daniel, Critter, Me, Jonathan, Brandon, Ben, Jeremiah.  (Left to right, bottom) Jacob P., Jacob M., Leanna, Brian.

Best Caving Ever

Well I would have to say Saturday was the best caving trip ever.  When our group got to the parking spot we set out.  The entrance was pretty impressive to everyone who hadn't seen it before.

Our first little stop was the Register Room.  It was brief.  And then we continued on.  It seemed that the cave was colder this time.  Our first major stop was at a small crack in the wall.  Brandon and I had explored it before with our supervisor and Ivan.  It is really tight and you can climb up the crack and see some pools up top.  I got more pictures of them this time, with my new camera.

After we were done checking this out we continued on and stopped at the passage to the Fountain Room.  It took some people longer.  Brandon stayed back and showed people how to get through the first part where you have to wedge up the crack to have an easy time.  Jonathan and I continued on and we were alone in the Fountain Room for a while.  He asked me some questions about how it was going with Rachael.  And I told him what had happened in the last week.

                        (The calcium staircase leading into the Fountain Room)

                      (Your view of the bottom of the Fountain Room at the top of the staircase)
Eventually everyone made it.  We found one lone solitary blind, white crawdad in a pool, which was surprising.  It's hard to imagine how it got there.  Its not like there is any major water source.  But who knows.  We hung out in the room for a while and then left.

Our next stop was the skylight dome.  It took some time to get there and everyone was impressed when we did reach it.  I climbed up on a ledge in the bottom of the dome and got a good view, standing in the sunlight streaming down from the top.  It was the brightest I had ever seen it.

Everyone made it in.  We found more blind white crawdads and a salamander type lizard.  Then we sat and ate lunch in the skylight dome.  It was pretty nice.  After we were done eating, and resting, we decided to not visit the Art Room.  We decided to go to the waterfalls and then go out.  So we made our way back out through the birth canal and when we reached the main passage we ran into a group.  In all during our time, i think we ran into 2 or 3 groups.  This particular group followed behind us to the waterfalls.

Finally the big one came.  On the way up the falls Ben and Jacob Macintosh fell in.  Daniel and Critter just jumped in.

                              (Critter after diving underwater)
We went up to the Rain Dome above the last falls, and then after the group behind us came up we went back down.  Another group backed away from the big falls so we could get down.  Ben fell in on the way down again.  He just had bad luck.  And then the long journey out began.

Jacob has a group picture we took after we got outside.  I'll post it as soon as he gives it to me.  But it was the best caving trip I've been on.  A great time to blow off steam.  It was also the toughest trip I've been on.  I was exhausted and slept 11 hours that night. 

Here is a link to all of the photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/jholcomb8/PineHillTripSeptember#

Art Room

So Wednesday evening was a nice way to end the summer.  With a caving trip!  As soon as work was done, Brandon went up to EKU and got his brother, and then met me, Elgin (one of our supervisors that normally goes) and Jusladin (I don't know how to spell his weird name).

We got to the mouth of the cave and met some guys coming out.  We talked to them, and then went in.  It was slower going because Brandon's brother is very overweight.  When we made it most of the way through the midsection bypass Brandon's brother could not go anymore.  So Brandon went back out with him and took him back to EKU.  The rest of us continued on.

We made it to the passage that led to the art room.  Over our whole couple hours we explored these passages that branched off.  There were stalagmites and stalactites everywhere.  It was an awesome sight to see the pillars in the art room.