Hurricane Pit Entrance, failed again!

Yesterday morning I was up at 6:00 and getting ready for a trip down south.  My new caving friend Chris, from Cincinnati was coming down and he was bringing a new friend.  They picked me up and then we drove down I-75 until we got to Richmond.  There we went to Ryan's buffet... It was amazing... for $5 we got all the bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, and much much more that we could eat.  By the end the thought of more food made me want to hurl.  But we all felt more than ready to take on a cave.

A while later we arrived at parking and suited up.  Then we descended into the realm of darkness...  We made really good time and we were going to stop by the skylight dome so Chris's friend, Ken, could see it.  On the way in there was a good amount of cave life.

                               (Frog at the bottom of the skylight dome)
We stayed there for a couple minutes, and then went back out and went down the long passage that leads to the Art Room and surrounding passages.  But our goal was to give finding the Hurricane Pit Entrance another shot.  So we made the climb into the pit again (called the Pagonda) and then entered the canyon.  We searched high and low again.  We pushed several leads but still ended up getting nowhere.  I wedged myself into tight places trying to get past, and we cut and banged ourselves up.  It was frustrating to feel a breeze coming from somewhere, but we could not follow it.

In one instance I climbed up three "levels" and found a small hole, about 18" wide.  I forced my way in and saw it curved up and around to the left a little bit, but I couldn't see if it led anywhere.  So I clawed my way in, forcing through the mud until I saw it went nowhere.  So then I backed up enough and attempted to come out headfirst.  I got about a little below my shoulders out of the hole when I got stuck.  My legs could not come out because of the angle of the hole and a rock slab in the way.  No matter how I twisted or re positioned myself I still couldn't force my way out.  After that struggling I was really having to work hard to not panic.  It's the first time I've ever had to keep my cool.

I backed into the tiny room again, and then squirmed my way forward, and slowly angled my legs out and I came out feet first, the same way I entered.  I was glad to be out and before I made the climb (and couple squeezes) down I rested.

During our exploration we also encountered a small dome we climbed to the bottom of and discovered a bunch of rusty cable... No idea why it is there.

At that point we decided we weren't going to come back to look for the entrance until we could hopefully get some direction.  But the hard part is almost nobody knows how to get to the entrance from the inside.  It makes you wonder if it really exists.

We made our way out, climbed out of the Pagonda, and made our way out.  We ran into a group from Dayton, OH that was going to the skylight dome.  We continued on and climbed down to the stream level.  On the way out we went up to the Fountain Room.  But most of the stuff was dry and not impressive.  So then we continued on and made our way out.  It was a disappointing trip because we still didn't find the elusive hurricane pit, but it was still a great time!

Video from the trip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1U8nWosmSs

Hurricane Pit Entrance... So Close, yet so far...

This morning I awoke, and came down to Berea where I filled up on gas (which was 20 cents cheaper than in Richmond) and then picked up Lydia at the campus.  Then we headed down to Pine Hill Cave.  We were meeting a younger guy from the Cincinnati grotto named Chris, and he was bringing some friends.

We made pretty good time going in.  Folowing the stream in and then up to the upper level where we went to the skylight dome.  Some of Chris's friends hadn't seen it.

                          (Entrance to the Birth Canal, leading to the skylight dome)

We sat around in the dome for a while and found a huge frog in the pool.  We also found a small baby snake... Somehow these animals manage to fall in and survive the 125 foot fall.  It's unbelievable.  After that we made our way back out and then proceeded down Shaffer Trail.  This is a long "stereotypical" cave passage.  At the end of it is a narrow slot canyon which we eventually climb to the top of and pop around a corner.  This brings us in the vicinity of the Art Room, which we did visit later.  But our top priority was the Hurricane Pit Entrance.  I had studied the map and based on my experience in the cave I had a hunch where to look.  We climbed down into a pit and then climbed up the other side.  Sure enough we found the passage that the entrance branched off of.

                                       (Crooked soda straw hanging from the ceiling)
Pretty soon we came to a very small, and tight crawl.  After a while it opened up and it became apparant it was a maze.  There were 2 or 3 levels in this narrow canyon.  I went up ahead and found what is called Tom's Attic, and a high dome at the very end of the passage.

I turned around and came back.  The others had been poking around exploring the passage.  We realized we weren't going to find the Hurricane Pit Entrance... It would take a full day to locate it, unless we were lucky.  So instead we found places to climb up on top to the third upper level.  And there were some really pretty formations up there.

After exploring some more in the upper level we crawled back out, and then went to the Art Room momentarily so the rest of the group could see the pillars and other formations in there.  Then we made the long journey back out.  It was a great trip...  Even after a long caving trip with people you don't know, by the end there is a sense of bonding and you all enjoy your time together!

For the rest of the pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/116396676277007122980/20110910PineHillSeptember102011