Cumberland Falls

Yes, a post that is not about caving... Wednesday I came back up to NKY.  I had spent Christmas in Nashville with my caving friend David Intal.  And our plan was to meet Rachael and her brother Richard in Corbin, KY, and from there we would go to Cumberland Falls.  We got there and the water was very high.

We walked along the walkways and viewing platforms that they had set up.  There was even a smaller waterfall coming down a cliff on the opposite side of the River.

We didn't stick around too long.  We drove back and turned down a gravel road and drove for a few miles until David told us where to park.    We hiked up a trail to Dogslaughter Falls.  We stopped and didn't hike down to the waterfall right away.  David suggested climbing up the cliff to the overlook first to get warm by the sun.

Richard stayed at the bottom of the cliff and David, Rachael, and I made it up to the top.  I really was not expecting the view.  The Cumberland River was below us, as it made a big loop.  You could hear the wind going through the trees, and the distant sounds of waterfalls all around you.

We sat down in the sun and ate.  Rachael had made some bread and had brought that along, as well as some peanut butter fudge and Ale 8.  Nothing like looking over God's amazing creation and drinking an Ale 8.  David went back and after a while came up with Richard so then all four of us were up there.  We just sat around and enjoyed the afternoon.

Then we climbed back down, and went up close to Dogslaughter Falls.

It was pretty cold down there, but you could go all the way behind the waterfall and come out on the other side.  After a while of that we were freezing and decided it was time to make the hike back to the cars.

And before I knew it we were back at the cars saying good bye, and I was in no hurry to go back up North.  But I eventually did.

Sinks of the Roundstone

I wrapped up my weekend in Berea with a small easy trip to Sinks.  Brandon didn't have to work, and Jacob and Critter were in town.  As was Rachael, and she had never been caving.  I also only took 5 pictures so I figured I'd put them all into this post.  So we all drove out there and entered in through the railroad entrance.

There wasn't a whole lot of anything that happened.  We cleaned up some trash on our way through, and went off into some side passages that Jacob and I knew about.  I had forgotten how big some of the rooms are.  I would run up the tall mountains, and climb up onto the rocks and look out through the darkness to see everyone else's lights off in the distance.  It was very impressive.

We went off to a side passage I believe is call the prayer room, and I showed everyone how to climb high up into a crack to get to an upper passage that led to a deep pit.  Of course, I had to go sit out on the edge and lean over so I could see the bottom :)  

As we got to closer to the last 1/4 of the cave we discovered there was a steady stream flowing into the cave this time.  It was still much less water than I've seen at Sinks this time of the year.  We crossed back and forth over rocks to avoid the water, and made our way out.  I was disappointed though, that it had been too warm to have an ice buildup on the main entrance.

Miller's Cave

Saturday I met up with a group of people from the Cincinnati Grotto.  We met at the Great Saltpeter Cave Preserve, and then we all drove to the location of Miller's Cave.  Shane Mullins was leading this trip.  We were going to go in one of the main entrances, and come out another entrance which is part of Joint Cave.  The main entrance is a room, with a crack on the right side that you must squeeze into.  Then it is a series of ups and downs, and crawling to get to an open area where the Hawg's Hole Entrance is.

                    (Taking a break in Hawg's Hole)
While people rested I worked on getting some photos of formations around the area.

Shane then led us on through some very beautifully decorated places.  Along the way we had to skirt a deep pit.  We crawled under a ledge to get around it.  At a point where we did a free climb we did some "exploring" for a little bit.  There was a very nicely decorated area with some neat "bubble like" formations.

Then we continued on until we reached an area called Malfunction Junction.  Along here we passed some very beautiful pillars.

Then we climbed down to a lower level.  We were now in the Quagmire.  I had remembered being here the first time I was in the cave.  It's a really tall canyon.  We stopped here and ate some snacks, talked, and some of us walked to the back of the canyon.

Then we got to do some walking, and we cross along another pit.  This time we crawled along an open ledge and held onto a cable bolted to the wall.  This is the farthest I had been.  I remember turning around at this point when I was with guys from the Bluegrass Grotto.

Then there were two crawls ahead of us.  I enjoyed both of them.

Then it was just a short walk out the entrance of joint cave, but not without seeing some pretty cool 12 inch long soda straws.

Overall it was a fun, easy trip, and good for winter caving if you didn't want to get wet.  For all the photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/116396676277007122980/MillerSCaveDecember2011

Mammoth Cave

I decided that on my way back from spending Thanksgiving in Nashville, I would finally make the journey and stop by Mammoth Cave, since i was passing right by the park anyway.  So I went to the Visitor Center and got two tickets: One for the Historical Entrance Tour at 11:00, and one for the New Entrance Tour at 2:00.  For the Historical Entrance Tour it was just a short walk down a trail.

 Because there has been rain recently, there was a waterfall coming down overtop the "Natural" Entrance.  Normally the limestone aborbs the water, but because of all the rain some water still flowed on the surface.  However, just a few feet inside the cave entrance the water did disappear.  We passed through a gate and soon we were in the Rotunda.  It is a large circle room and two huge stream passages go off from both sides.

Our guide stopped us in here for a little bit.  In the Rotunda were some old salt-peter vats and a few old log pipes.  He spent some time explaining to us the process of mining the salt-peter and how Mammoth Cave played a significant role during the War of 1812.  During this time period the salt-peter was more valuable than gold.

From that point on our guide led us down Broadway, and Gothic Avenue.  Periodically he would pause to point out some features, and tell us history of parts of the cave.  He talked a lot about the slave named Steven Bishop.  A lot of the times slaves led the rich folks on cave tours, during the 1800s and Steven Bishop is probably the most famous.  He did a lot of exploring and found some of the famous places in Mammoth Cave such as the Snowball Room and Bottomless Pit.

Our guide led us behind Giant's Coffin and we descended down a passage that took us over Sidesaddle Pitt, Bottomless Pit, and then through Fat Man's Misery.

In some places our guide showed us old graffiti that early tourists had written on the ceiling with candle smoke.  But really the last impressive stop we made Mammoth Dome.  There was a little bit of flow stone in this dome.  And it was the first wet section we saw.

Now I wish I could say I took this picture but I didn't.  I just wanted you all to get an idea what Mammoth Dome is like.  Since my camera was dead I could only use the picture setting on my video camera which doesn't have a flash.  So I didn't get good pictures.  But anyway, this is one of the few sections in mammoth that has dripping water from the surface.  This is because most of Mammoth is covered in a thick sandstone/shale caprock.  This prevents water from entering.  This is why most of the cave system are devoid of formations.  However, in Mammoth Dome there is a break and this water is allowed to enter and in a few places limestone is redeposited to form the flowstone.

After that we climbed to the top of the dome, and soon we were coming back on the other side of the Rotunda.  Our guide led us out, and we walked across the bio-mats because the government is concerned about White Nose Syndrome in bats.

When we got out I had about an hour until the New Entrance Tour.  We met at a shelter and then loaded up onto a bus.  I had the same guide that I had from the Historical Tour.  This trip was rather nice because there was only about 20 of us so our guide was able to stop for longer periods of time and talk to us more.

The "New Entrance" was created in 1924.  It was blasted out by a guy who tried to compete and steal business from the people leading the historical tours.  It allowed a very beautiful portion of Mammoth Cave to be shown.  Without that entrance being blasted you would have to travel miles and miles to get to it from the natural entrance.  Soon after we descended through the doors we walked down steep narrow stairs and wound our way through domes and tall canyons.  This was a totally different portion of cave.

It was very pretty seeing this active section of cave.  A good portion of the New Entrance Tour is in the far reaches of the system that does not have a sandstone caprock on top of it.  So a lot of water gets through and forms domes, and formations.

We got to an area with benches and our guide spent some time talking about the geology side of the cave.  A lot of it I already knew, but some of it I did find interesting.  And I did learn something about cave crickets.  I always wondered what the heck cave crickets eat in caves.  But it turns out they must come out every 14-15 days to get food.  So they can stay underground for a while.  Then we continued on and walked along some trails in breakdown.  We were actually walking close to the ceiling.  When the water drained from the passage and went lower into the cave the archways collapsed until it reached a stable point.

Then, it was time for the climax of the trip.  The Frozen Niagra section, and some small domes and formations after that.  Again, I didn't get good pictures because of no flash so I put up some good pictures I found so you have an idea of what it looks like.

The views were very spectacular.  We were able to go down some stairs and view everything from the bottom of the room, and then we climbed back up to the top and started out way out the Frozen Niagra Entrance.  Along the way we passed some very beautiful formations.  In one section they had them gated off because they were so fragile and needed to be protected.

Here is a video (for those of you getting the email it is attached) of that section.  The lighting was poor for the camera but you can get glimpses of the beauty.

The final stop was the Rainbow Dome.  There were a lot of formations and a few rimstone dams.  And also there was a tall dome in which the old tour guide had dammed up water to form a "lake" to draw in tourists and give them a boat ride.  Then we exited and loaded up on the bus and went back to the visitor center.  It was a very nice tour and I plan to return next year in the spring and summer to see more tours to different parts of the cave.

Indiana Caves

Saturday morning: Bedford Indiana.  I was with a couple grotto members, Gil and Scott, and another guy named Mike.  We parked and suited up to descend into Donahue Cave.  The entrance is through a culvert.  When the highway was built, they shoved the pipe right up into the mouth of the cave and buried it.  Immediately upon entering you twist and turn, walking through a curvey passage.  Soon we came to a large flowstone with water trickling down.  We crawled up over top of it to get to a larger stream passage.  Then to avoid getting wet until we had to we began walking along the sides.  Not too long after that the cave began to really get interesting.  We paused briefly and I took some pictures of a nice active flowstone formation.

After this point the stream passage we were walking in became very tall.  You could either walk along the bottom, or go along the top.  If you went on the top route you scurried along the edges and criss-crossed back and forth on numerous natural bridges.

At some points the bridges were so low you either had to crawl over them, or crawl under them.  But I went up and down.  At some points following the stream, and at others I climbed up high to test my footing on the high slopes.  I'm pretty certain the natural bridges are a result of sandstone being left behind when the cave was formed.  When all the rock layers were laid down some sand/mud was mixed in with the limestone.  When the acidic water (water with dissolved CO2) made contact with the limestone and began forming the cave it ate left behind the sandstone resulting in the natural bridges.

A while later we reached the massive flowstone formation that Gil and Scott had been telling us about.  It was not possible to go over it.  What way does that leave?  Under!  And what is under the flowstone?  Very cold water!  So Gil dove in first, with me following.  It was pretty cold and the worst part was when you had to put your head in the water and curve your body around a rock in an "S" shape.

                                           (Small portion of the flowstone.  We entered to the left, near the bottom corner)
The flowstone was quite a site from the other side.  Gil led us on.  He told us this end of the cave is pretty.  If we continued this route it would take us out the 2nd entrance of Donahue Cave.  However after a while we began seeing a lot of bats in hibernation so Scott decided we should turn around so we didn't disturb them.  So back to the flowstone we went.  But before we dove back under it Gil and I climbed up to the top.  There was an amazing, pristine pool up there.  It was even more fascinating to see it kept going.  If you laid down in the water you could squeeze your way into a second room.  The water was so clean and the gleaming flowstone reflected brilliantly in the light of the headlamps.  I didn't get any pictures however as I had opted to not bring my camera under the flowstone.

We made the cold crawl back under the flowstone and then took a break before backtracking down the passage.  This time we just walked in the stream instead of going up above.  But we finally made it to the connection point.  Scott and Gil led the way.  For a while it was walking passage.  Then, we found ourselves in a small water canyon.  Gil told us to try our hardest to not fall in.  The water isn't deep but the mud is deep. So we worked our way along, clinging to the rock walls and finding foot holds.  Scott and Gil fell in, but Mike and I didn't.

We did come to a 2nd mud filled tube.  This time we just had to wade through it.  So in we plunged, with mud  and water flying everywhere as we sank up to our knees in it.  It was quite the experience.  Occasionally we'd see some small decorations above us, and in rare cases we saw some tiny gypsum crystals.

Then the "key hole" passage came.  It was a very tight passage that required you to twist around and work your body into positions you never thought you could.  Oh, and did I mention the bottom had muddy water flowing through it? :)  The hardest part of that was just figuring out in which ways to coordinate your body to move so you could get through.

                                        (Looking back at the last section as I exited the keyhole)
We popped out into a room and there were a few formations.  But the air was so steamy I didn't get great pictures of them.

At this point we were near the edge of a very tall canyon.  We used a tow strap that cavers had placed around a rock, to lower ourselves safely to a ledge.  At this point you could either climb down a rope to the bottom, or work your way from ledge to ledge until you reached a safe enough height to jump.  I started to follow Gil down on the rope but I didn't feel entirely comfortable so I backed out and decided to climb and then jump down.

Then we began walking down the length of the canyon.  And then we reached an even bigger flowstone formation that choked off the entire canyon.  There were two ways to go.  There was a tiny hole on the right side that required squeezing and forcing your way through.  It would take you around to the other side.  Scott couldn't fit.  So he had to go under.  Going under meant hardly any airspace, and laying down in the cold water.  Mike and I pushed everyone's packs through while Gil stood by to pull Scott out should he panic.  But he made it through so Gil followed us through.

It wasn't long until we reached the end of known territory.  Gil and Scott had never been beyond the point that we stood.  They knew there was a connection to Doghill Cave and it was our goal to get successfully through.  Before us was deep water.  And a rope tied off to the ceiling.  We had to go through it.  There wasn't enough room to keep your head straight otherwise your mouth would be underwater.  So you had to turn it sideways and have your ear in the water as your walked/pulled your way through.

My turn came and I dove in, and worked hard to just stay calm, and get through the passage.  And I did.  After that Scott came through and we all had the same feeling of excitement.  In front of us was territory in which none of us knew what lay beyond.  We were in another steam passage... A tall canyon.  And little by little we went on and small beautiful formations became visible.  I wanted to take pictures but unfortunately the zip lock bag I kept my camera in leaked and the camera got wet.

We began hearing loud water, and for the next 20 minutes we were in the most beautiful and exquisite cave passages I had ever seen!  Huge Stalactites hung from the ceiling, draperies clung to the walls and spilled down in breathtaking patterns.  In some places stalactite and stalagmite met to form tall columns.  In some places giant rimstone dams the size of suburbans held back the stream and the water cascaded over them.  But perhaps the most amazing feature was the numerous flowstone formations that almost completely filled the canyons.  On a couple occasions we climbed up them to continue on through the passage.  In all my life I have never seen cave so beautiful and pristine.

Almost as quickly as it began, it was over.  We were in just typical cave, stream passage, leaving the beauty behind.  And then we were faced with choices.  There were what appeared to be three ways to go.  Scott and Mike followed a passage, for a ways but it ended up not going anywhere they decided because the air was too stagnant.  Gil and I saw a passage that was filled with water and we decided that would be our last resort.  So we endured a miserable crawl over sharp rocks and we found ourselves in a small, very beautifully decorated room.  There were hundreds upon hundreds of small pillars, soda straws, and stalactites.  I wish I could have gotten pictures.  But we finally crawled out and joined up with Mike.  He told us Scott had already entered the water to scout ahead.

We plunged in.  But thankfully there was a grove in the ceiling that gave us headroom.  After we exited the water we ran into Scott.  He had raced all the way ahead and found the exit.  Encouraged, we pressed on seeing lots of junk flood water had washed in.  We even saw a sled.  And soon the smell of decaying organic matter grew stronger and probably after 15 minutes we saw light.  We exited the cave to find ourselves in a small patch of trees surrounded by apartment complexes.  We hiked around and began walking next to a hotel and followed roads until we realized we were on the same side of the highway we had started.  Soon we saw our parking spot ahead, and the suburban.  When we had made the connection to Doghill Cave at some point we had passed back under the highway.  This made sense too since at once point we were sure we heard traffic above us.

Anyway we changed and then got check into a hotel.  I dried out my camera over a heater and got it working again.  I was ready for the next day!

It was drizzling rain so Gil and Scott decided that we wouldn't go to Deputy cave.  The reason for that is a pond overflow goes right into the cave so rain was a very important factor in this cave.  So we drove on backroads through Indiana fields looking at sinkholes and admiring the karst terrain.  We saw a lot of Amish farms too.  At one point we saw them in a buggy.  But we eventually made it to the Orangeville Rise.

(Orangeville Rise)

Based on what I read and was told, this is part of the Lost River watershed and it emerges from the ground here.  There is a house almost right above it.  We looked at it a few minutes, and then Gil decided we should go to Wesley Chapel Gulf.  This is an 8 acre sinkhole.  At some point in the past it collapsed in on itself.  It is a very high karst area and it is ringed with caves.  At one end is a pool.  Water enters at some point and then is sucked back underground.  I was able to get a picture of the whirlpool.

We found a small cave and could hear water at the bottom so we all hiked back to the vehicle, and geared up, and then descended in.

We poked around and followed the water.  It ended in small spaces we couldn't follow.  And then we crawled up into an overflow route and followed it a ways before decided to head out.  It was fun to check it out.  So then we decided it was time to go home and we began hiking out.  However, on the way out we found more cave potential so there went our plans to head home.  It was tricky, with some breakdown in precarious positions.  But I was the first to the bottom and I excitedly called out "Cave!", meaning it went.  We got the bottom and saw what appeared to be a deep water passage looming ahead of us.  Not ones to let deep water stop us, I led the way, trying to keep to the edge.  We traveled slowly, sinking into silt and in yelling in surprise when the water got deeper.  But soon we got to shallow water and gravel and found ourselves in a really pretty area.

We were able to leave the stream passage and explored around.  But the cave ended.  It had collapsed in and the water flowed beneath it all.  But I did find a nice room, up above some slippery mud that had a lot of nice formations in it.

At that point we decided it was time to turn around.  So we headed on out and changed back at the suburban, before driving home.  It was a great trip, and by far my favorite.  I immediately went home and did research in my books I have.  I found out there are three caves in Wesley Chapel Gulf.  We went into the two small ones.  The first one we entered into is called Boiling Spring Cave.  The second one is Elrod Cave.  The cave we didn't go into is Wesley Chapel Gulf Cave.  And that one, I found out, has a connection to Lost River Cave which has over 20 miles of passages.  We were right there!!!!!!  And we didn't know about that.  But when I pass this information on to Gil and Scott I'm sure a return trip will not be too far off...

For all of my photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/116396676277007122980/IndianaCaving#

And here are two videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGTVeoZ9OBw and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lceNo-_9paI