Last weekend to remember

Well this has been the last weekend of my life at Berea, in which all of my friends will be here.  I will be here next weekend, but a good majority of people will be gone.

Friday night I went to a bonfire, with some of the people from Inter-varsity.  We roasted some hot dogs, and some people played their guitars, and we just sat around and enjoyed the nice evening.  It was a good time.

Saturday morning, however, was the last caving trip of the semester.  We met at Alumni circle.  It ended up being me, Nathan, Alex, Jimmy, Sean, Josh Best, Yhoshua, Hannah, and Lydia.  Brandon also met us down at the parking for the cave.

We got going, and made pretty good time.  We went to the Tower Domes & Canyon first.  I always love seeing the fossilized coral bed, visible in the walls of the dome.  We poked around in the domes, and then the canyon for a while.  We also went to the room at the end of the canyon that has some pretty good formations in it.

                                     (Alex, Sean, and Lydia)
When we were done there, we turned around and went back to the main fork.  Our next stop was the Fountain Room.  At the beginning of the passage to the Fountain Room you have to climb up to the top of a crack, and then work your way along the upper level, until the passage gets narrower and you eventually get to a calcium staircase.  This is the grand entrance into the Fountain Room.

                                             (Nathan and Jimmy climbing up)

This was the first time I'd seen the Fountain Room in the spring time.  So it was really wet and the formations looked extraordinary!  Yhoshua and I squeezed into a crack to see where some of the water came from.  you had to go in on your side, and you could only use one arm to pull and push your way through.  But eventually we reached the back and found a small hole where the water was coming out of, right next to a small stalagmite. 

We backed out, and then met with the others, resting and admiring the beautiful room.  Then we headed back out.  Our next stop was the Skylight Dome.  We were going to have lunch there.  When we reached the mouth of the Birth Canal we ran into a group coming out.  It was a good thing we met at the beginning, instead of in the middle.  It wouldn't have been fun trying to pass each other.  But the whole area smelled of skunk.  I believe the reason for that is because there is a very strong draft that comes into the skylight dome, and through the birth canal.  There was probably a skunk outside the skylight entrance, so naturally the smell got sucked in.

It was really cold in the skylight dome.  We weren't moving.  And being wet, and having the really strong draft blowing through, it got cold very quickly.   We wasted no time crawling back through the birth canal and getting into calmer air.  Before we left the upper level passages, however, we went to the Art Room.

                                                (Sean, near  a giant formation near the Art Room)We ran into the same group again, coming back from the Art Room passages.  So we stepped aside so they could pass.  When we reached the Art Room, we didn't stay too long... Everybody was ready for the climax of the trip!  To the waterfalls!

So we made our way back to the lower level stream passage, and again we met the same group.  They were stopped though, so we passed them.  And we entered the series of waterfalls, as they progressively got taller.  It's really neat because you are walking on gravel and sand most of the cave, but then you get to pure rock, and that is where the falls are.  Everybody loved the falls, but then the big one, Thunder Falls loomed ahead.  And we all took our turn climbing up.

                              (Brandon and Alex, getting ready to climb up)

                                              (Hannah climbing up)
A couple people fell in.  We then climbed up the last falls and went up to the Rain Dome.  We waited there, assuming the other group would follow up after us.  I went back and checked twice, but it appeared they were waiting until we were out of the way.  So, we came back down.  Alex led the first jump off the falls, followed by Brandon, Jimmy, Sean, and Hannah.  The others climbed down.  When I was done filming the jumps I threw my pack over the falls and jumped too.

We moved out of the way of the group, and thus began the exit.  When we exited the cave it was 3.  We had entered at 9.  It had been a 6 hour trip... The longest caving trip I'd ever done.  We were all tired, wet, and hungry but it had been awesome.  Everybody had a blast.

(Our group left to right (except Brandon) Alex, Hannah, Josh Holcomb, Yhoshua, Nathan, Jimmy, Josh Best, Sean, Lydia)
Our journey wasn't over at that point, though.  Brandon drove back down to London, but the rest of us went to Berea.  Alex dropped Josh Best off at a church function he was involved in, and then we all went up to Richmond.  What is in Richmond?  The awesome Chick-Fil-A!!!  We all got some of their amazing food and ate outside, enjoying the beautiful afternoon.  Later on we all laid down outside soaking up the sun and dozing off.  I am sure people though we were crazy, but nobody said anything to us.

We all went back to Berea, then, and I cleaned up my gear, took a shower, and sorted through my pictures and video clips.  Then at 8:30 Hannah invited me over to her dorm with Sean, Josh Best, and Catherine to have some food.  Hannah had made stir fry, and some garlic bread, and some cookies.  It was AMAZING food!!!  We sat around talking for a while, and then we split up.  The great day had came to an end...

Link to all my photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/jholcomb8/20110430PineHillApril30#

Link to a video of us jumping off the waterfall: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8QwW0fNsy0

Oneida, KY

Well I am back from spending Easter weekend in Oneida, Kentucky.  Thursday night Hannah came to my dorm and picked me up, and then we went and picked up Josh Best, and Sean from their dorm.  Also, a freshmen named Cameron, that is from Oneida got a ride to his house with us too.

It was dark when we drove down so we just talked the whole time; we didn't get to see much scenery.  It was cool listening to Cameron.  He spent a lot of time growing up in Alaska.  He was telling us stories of what it was like fishing for Halibut... and the different things he did and experienced there.  When we arrived in Oneida we dropped Cameron off and met his mom.  Then we went to Hannah's.

Oneida is a small town that is built around the boarding school, Oneida Baptist Institute.  It's one of the cheapest boarding schools in the nation.  Hannah's parents work there, and Hannah herself spent her last two years of high school there.  It's really small.  The town doesn't even have a store, to speak of.  It's just nestled out in the middle of nowhere.

Hannah's parents were still up so we met them, and then we met Abby.  Abby is Hannah's adorable dog.  We played around with her a little while and then grabbed some headlamps to go on an adventure.  First Hannah took us down to the "creek" that flows behind her house, at the bottom of a field.  Then we walked downstream, seeing part of the area.  There was a big swinging bridge across the water.  That was really fun to go across, and bounce on.  The farm that the school runs was on the other side.  We went and Hannah showed it to us.  They don't want the kids to have nothing to do and be bored, so the kids have to work there some.  We petted some of the calves, and tried not to wake up the immense amount of pigs.  After that we all walked back to the house.  I went to bed, but Josh, Sean, and Hannah stayed up a little bit later talking.

I woke up at 9:30 the next morning, but then I just laid in bed for a while listening to music.  Finally, I got up and went downstairs.  Hannah was in the living room; Sean and Josh were still sound asleep.  So we sat around talking, and then later Hannah decided she was going to make some waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon for a "breakfast lunch".  Still, Josh and Sean did not get up.  Hannah's parents came home for lunch, to eat with us.  That is when the other guys finally crawled out of bed and came on down.

It was a really good meal.  Unfortunately, after eating food service for so long our stomachs had shrunk, drastically.  I can't eat anything near to what I used to when I lived at home.  Afterwards, Hannah's parents went back to work.  The rest of us cleaned up, and then we started watching some show called Leverage.  Hannah left a couple hours earlier to go with her home.  Us guys just continued watching Leverage.

As soon as Hannah got back we all gathered our gear up and drove up to where we were parking.  Hannah's friend Miriam joined us.  It was only a 10 minute hike or so, until we reached a good spot.  Josh and Sean had brought a couple army surplus tents and sleeping bags they had borrowed from a guy at the college.  Miriam set up a giant tent (which she never ended up sleeping in).  Hannah and I set up our hammocks.  So did Josh Best, but he never slept in his.

                                         (Josh & Sean's tent setup)
After we got our camp set up Hannah began making dinner.  She took carrots, potatoes, onions, and she made hamburger patties.  She wrapped it all in aluminum foil and cooked them in the fire.  And like her usual, sweet and selfless attitude, she made sure all of us were fed before she ate.  After that we cooked smores, and we also roasted some Oreo s over the fire.  They were good.  I even broke one open, and put in a piece of Hershey's chocolate and then roasted that.

                                           (Hannah getting dinner ready, with Josh keeping the fire going)
Later on a big hole opened up in the clouds and the stars were really beautiful.  So we all hiked out to a big open grass pasture that was surrounded by the woods and we laid down and watched the stars.  There were fireflies around, and we saw several really pretty meteorites.  We shared stories, and talked about how awesome God and His creation was.  It was a great experience, and really encouraging to be out there with Christian friends  talking about God's unfathomable power and love.

Miriam wanted to stay by herself for a while so the rest of us went back to camp.  Josh and Hannah got the fire going again, but I went off into the woods by myself.  I really wanted to spend some time praying.  I needed some time away.  After a while Hannah and Josh wondered where I was.  But I soon came back.  We sat around the fire talking and sharing more stories.  Miriam came back later and rejoined us. 

It was a long night.  It never rained, but I got uncomfortable in my hammock.  Finally I ended up just leaving my hammock and grabbing my quilt and sleeping next to a log.  Still later I went back to my hammock, and then when I woke up again Josh and Hannah were up getting breakfast ready.  Miriam had to go back to her house, so the rest of us enjoyed an awesome breakfast!  Josh was the chef for the morning.  He put a griddle over the coals and cooked fried eggs, bacon, and then buttered toast.  We made it all into a sandwhich.

                                      (Josh cooking eggs & bacon)
When we were done eating we decided to go hiking.  Hannah was going to take us to a waterfall.  We hiked up the ridge for a while, trying to avoid the seemingly infinite amount of poison ivy.  But it was almost impossible.  We finally reached a small stream and we began following it.  Sometimes we would slip on rocks.  I slipped, and bounced on my rear end twice, hitting two different rocks.  The small "waterfalls" began getting bigger as we went down.

At one point I was going along the edge of one and I had one hand on a small tree.  I slipped and ended up swinging over the edge like Tarzan, only having that one grip on the tree.  I held on for dear life.  It put a lot of strain on my arm, but I managed to spin around and get the tree with my other hand and pull myself up.  But we finally reached the biggest waterfall.

                                        (Hannah, Josh, & Sean as well all cooled off underneath the falls.)
We then decided to go past this last waterfall.  Hannah had never been past it.  We ended up finding a river.  We spent some time on the bank skipping rocks.

We also found a very huge rock that seemed begging to be climbed.  However, I soon discovered it was covered in poison ivy.  Sean and I decided to not climb it.  I didn't want to run the risk of getting more of it.  But Hannah and Josh climbed anyway.

                                         (Hannah and Josh standing on top.  All the green is poison ivy)
We then decided to make the long hike back to our camp.  When we did get back we packed up and then went back to Hannah's house.  The first thing I did was shower.  I didn't want to get bad poison ivy rashes.  The other three wanted to go swim in the "creek" below Hannah's house.  So they spent some time doing that.

When we were all cleaned up, Hannah (showing her servant heart again) made sure our laundry got done and she even folded it for us.  Then came dinner :)  Hannah's parents grilled burgers, hot dogs, and we had salad, beans, chips, and pineapple & mango.  It was an AMAZING meal!  Miriam's sister, Caleb, came over too.  After the meal Josh, Sean, and I went out below the house and played Frisbee for a while; and then we spent some time talking and then we all played some games.  The first one we did was Apples to Apples.  Hannah won 5 in a row... After we played a few games of that we did Solitare frenzy, and her parents taught us a passing the cup game.  Then Josh taught us a hands game.  It all fries your brain and confuses it, but it was fun.

But then we had ice cream cake.  Hannah's mom made a giant one for Easter.  It was really good.  When we were done with that we wound down, and watched a movie.  Then we went to bed later on.

We were going to get up to go to the Easter sunrise service, but a thunderstorm came through and it was dumping rain.  So instead we slept in.  Instead when we all got loaded up we followed Hannah's parents to a church in London (which turned out to be Brandon's church).  We went there, and then we came back to Berea with 10 minutes to spare before food service closed.

It was a really fun and awesome weekend.  Hannah's parents were really glad to have us, and they appreciated it.  It was great to hang out with everyone.

Here is a link to all of my pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/jholcomb8/20110424OneidaKYEaster2011#

Happy Easter!

Failed Caving Trip

Well today was an interesting day for caving.  Berea had received about an inch of rain... It wasn't bad at all.  I knew that caves that flood easily wouldn't be safe to go into.  But I never dreamed of what I would see today.  Soon after we left Berea and headed south we could see waterfalls coming off the cliffs on I-75.  I've never seen that before!  And I've seen some pretty intense rain out here.  But we parked and then hiked down to the entrance to Pine Hill Cave.  But soon I heard the roar of water and I knew something wasn't right.  We saw there was a nice roaring river now flowing into the entrance of Pine Hill Cave.

                                        (Main Entrance to Pine Hill Cave)

You must understand, that Pine Hill Cave almost never floods.  Certainly not the entrance.  I have personally been in it after the area receives 2 or 3 inches of rain.  It does nothing.  The geology and hydrology of Pine Hill Cave makes it a cave not prone to flooding.  So this was a very rare chance to see it.  Mt. Vernon got five or six times the amount of rain that Berea did.  What is funny, though, is that Berea and Mt. Vernon are only 10-15 minutes apart.

I wanted to go wade in and see where the water was going.  When you get inside you must go uphill to actually get to the stream in Pine Hill.  So, the water flowing in had obviously found an alternate route.  But I had to say no to going in.  So we decided that since we were already in Mt. Vernon, we would go look at the entrance to Sinks of the Roundstone Cave.  That cave is extremely prone to flooding and I knew it would be an awesome sight.  So we drove and then hiked to the entrance.

                                      (Entrance to Sinks of the Roundstone.  The water is at least a good 10 feet deep)

                                          (Picture of the entrance under normal conditions)
We then decided to just go hiking, and see if we could find Sinks of the Roundstone Pit which is just a vertical cave up on the hill.  We never found it, but had a good time hiking.  Yes, we never did get to go caving but it was pretty cool to see these neat sights.  I doubt I'll ever see Pine Hill Cave flood again as it's a rare occurrence.  The lesson I learned from this is never trust Kentucky weather!  Even though Berea got almost no rain in comparison, never assume 10 minutes away is the same!

Link to all the photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/jholcomb8/20110416PineHillCaveFailedTripApril162011#

Pine Hill Waterfalls

Friday evening after I got off work, Daniel, Jacob M, Jeremiah, Joe, Esther and I met to go caving.  It was going to be a bigger trip but a lot of people couldn't make it.  But we were going, nonetheless!  We were going to Pine Hill Cave; and it would be a simple trip up through the waterfalls, and a small stop next to the big waterfall.

                                                  (Joe and Daniel)
We made really good time following the stream, and soon we began climbing up through the smaller waterfalls.  Spring time is definitely the best time to be in Pine Hill Cave.  It is wetter and everything looks so much better.  When we arrived at the intersection to continue on to the last two big waterfalls, we climbed out of the stream passage and walked a couple minutes to where the cave system ends.  It butts up against a valley.  In this area is a lot of flowstone and formations...

It was here that we all stopped and Jacob read a Psalms.  Then he and Jeremiah talked for a while.  They made a lot of spiritual applications out of the physical attributes of caves.  When we were done there Daniel found 4 or 5 tiny, baby salamanders on a formation.

                                           (Esther looking at the salamanders)
Then it was time to move on!  We climbed back down into the stream passage and proceeded to the big falls!  It's always fun swinging on the foot and handholds to climb up through it.

                                            (Joe, not wanting to fall in more than he already is)
When all of us got up we then climbed up the last easy waterfall and went to the rain dome momentarily.

We stopped at the Rain Dome for a minute, and then we went back to the big waterfall.  I was going to jump off it, and do a cannonball into the pool.  So I took off my shirt so I wouldn't have to be cold wearing a wet shirt, threw my waterproof pack over, and then I jumped!

                                          (Me as I make a big splash and am about to go under)
Daniel, Jacob, Jeremiah, and Joe followed.  Esther just climbed down, using the hand and footholds. 

                                     (Daniel, playing below the waterfall)
We made pretty good time exiting the cave.  We changed, and then hiked back to the car.  When we were there we found a couple frogs in a puddle next to the cars.  One of them was singing, and we didn't scare them off.  I was able to pick one of them up.  The frog wouldn't let go of my fingers when I finally went to put it down!  I certainly thought of how much my sister would love it!  Then we admired the stars, and watched as the sky lit up from lightening.  There was a storm in the distance, past a ridge.  But overall it was a great caving trip and it was fun to get wet and have an easy, exciting trip!