When we got out of the pool we went through the crawl and then worked our way up to the upper level passage where I had went last weekend and found the waterfall. We all crawled through a passage and spent some time at the waterfall. I also found a small hole I wedged down into. It allowed me to get closer to the bottom of the falls, but not enough to safely climb down.
But then it was time to go into unknown territory! We pushed onward through a passage I saw last time. Pretty soon we found ourselves in a very large room. There were a couple ways to go. I led the way through a small passage and Hannah and Lydia followed me. There was some small formations and trickle of water. And of course, it was raining cave crickets! We crawled through the passage with cave crickets falling off the ceiling onto us, and jumping around. It soon reached a dead end, however.
The three of us made our way back out and Brandon and Jason were below us. In this large room was almost like a giant sinkhole. It connects upper level, and lower level passages. Anyway, Brandon and Jason had climbed down to the bottom and found a really deep pool. And there were fish in it! So Hannah, Lydia, and I climbed down to the bottom and checked it out. We saw a couple fish around on the surface. My first cave fish!
Next to this pool was a passage that led into another room. We followed it and found ourselves in front of a really tall waterfall. It wasn't a big one, but there was flow stone on the whole height of the falls
After we discovered that nothing branched off from this room we went back to the deep pool. We were curious to know how deep it was. Hannah said she would give Jason $1 if he went in. So, Jason took off his shirt and went in. He ended up swimming. No matter how hard he tried he could not find the bottom.
He finally crawled out of the pool and we continued exploring. Hannah, Lydia, and Jason climbed halfway out of the sinkhole and found some ledges to go on, and ended up finding some really nice rooms with formations. Brandon and I found a passage that had a lot of cold air blowing out of it. We followed it for 20 feet and found ourselves right at the mouth of the crawl, after the first pool coming into the cave. All the time we had spent exploring, and we now discovered it all made a loop.
Brandon and I went back and rejoined the others (Just so you all know, it wasn't dangerous to split up in this area. You couldn't get lost). We went up to the rooms Hannah had found and admired the really pretty formations.
After we were done exploring this room we decided to make our way out. This time, going on the passage Brandon and I had found. We went back through the crawl, and waded out through the pool again.
We got out the "dry" entrance and it wasn't even a minute and Hannah and Lydia disappeared. They had seen a small hole in the side of the hill about halfway between the "wet" and the "dry" entrances. Jason followed them too. So, Brandon and I crawled in after them. It soon opened up and it looked like we were on top of water, walking on rock ledges. We explored a little bit and decided there was a connection to the "dry" entrance, but it was a maze.
Hannah and Lydia decided to check out a lead and they soon reported they saw light. It ended up, they saw the "wet" entrance. They blazed ahead and exited, while Jason and I jumped into the water and began the cold wade out. It ended up coming almost up to your shoulders in a couple places, and you had a foot and a half of room between the water and the ceiling.
It was really cold and deep, but we made our way out. A lot of the mud was washed off, but we were still filthy and very wet, and cold.
Link to all of the photos from the trip: https://picasaweb.google.com/jholcomb8/20110326MullinsSpringCaveMarch262011
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